Turkish PM says methods used by Turkish police to quell demonstrations are little different from those used in US and UK

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has accused European Union member states of hypocrisy and double standards, and rejected criticism by Brussels of his crackdown on anti-government protesters whom he branded "vandals".

Erdoğan said the forceful methods used by Turkish riot police to quell protests against the demolition of an Istanbul park were little different from those used previously in the US and UK. He said that Turkey's democratic record was the best it had been in the country's history, and superior to that of many EU states.

Speaking at an EU-Turkey conference in Istanbul on Friday, a defiant Erdoğan shrugged off criticism of his environmental record and said that he planted lots of trees when he was the city's mayor. He again vowed to press ahead with controversial plans to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park and the adjoining Taksim Square, despite opposition from tens of thousands of protesters who have transformed the area into a colourful Glastonbury festival-style camp.

"Those who demand freedom and democracy should also act democratically," Erdoğan said. He renewed his attack on Twitter, which he previously dismissed as a "menace", and said social media had spread lies about what was really happening in Turkey. Erdoğan also suggested that the international media was complicit in writing "paid" articles hostile to his government. He said an advertisement in the New York Times decrying his government style was the work of lobbyists.

Erdoğan's latest remarks suggest that he has no intention of seeking an accommodation with the mostly secular, middle-class Turks who have staged the country's biggest demonstrations in years. He reminded his audience that he has a democratic mandate – he has won three elections in a row – and suggested that those who oppose him were defying the "national will". None of this is likely to calm tensions. The protests which began 12 days ago have spread to more than 70 Turkish cities, including the capital Ankara. Three people have died, more than 4,000 injured, and 900 arrested.

"We won't stop until [Erdoğan] apologises," Murat Bakirdöven, a 24-year-old biology student who has been sleeping in Gezi Park in a tent for six days, said. He added: "We're all tired. But we still have energy to keep going." On Friday several volunteers planted flowers amid the rubble; others played guitars, crashed out in the grass, or browsed the camp's free bookshop.

Addressing Erdoğan earlier, a senior European Union official delivered a surprisingly frank dressing-down to Turkey's leader, who was sitting in the front row. Štefan Füle, the EU's enlargement commissioner, described the protests in Taksim Square as "legitimate" in a democratic society, and hinted that Turkey would only be allowed to join the EU if it truly embraced European values. He also criticised Turkey's pro-Erdoğan media, which initially censored the uprising. Füle said: "There should be freedom to report on what is happening as it is happening," he declared.

An unimpressed Erdoğan then stood up and offered his own counter-blast. He complained that the EU's record on media freedoms was also poor and cited Germany, which prohibited Turkish journalists from attending the trial of neo-Nazis who murdered eight Turks. He also lamented that talks on Turkey's accession to the EU had made no progress in the past three years – a "tragi-comical situation". He explicitly blamed France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy for the lack of progress and unfair obstacles shoved in Ankara's way by several EU players. Most of the European leaders in power a decade ago were no longer in power, he added, pointing out: "I'm the only one who is still around."

The conference venue was an upmarket hotel in central Istanbul overlooking the Bosphorus. The hotel is within walking distance of Taksim Square, where thousands of anti-Erdoğan protesters have gathered every day for the past week. The prime minister has yet to drop in. Debris from earlier clashes between protesters and riot police is all around: barricades, trashed buses and graffiti-plastered walls. The demonstrators are unhappy with attempts by Erdoğan and his ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP) to restrict the consumption of alcohol and impose a more conservative lifestyle on the country's citizens.

In his speech, Füle urged a "swift and transparent" investigation into the behaviour of riot police who used teargas and water cannons against peaceful demonstrators. He said: "The duty of all of us, European Union members as much as those countries that wish to become one, is to aspire to the highest possible democratic standards and practices.

"These include the freedom to express one's opinion, the freedom to assemble peacefully," he pointed out.