How could a skilled politician as smart and experienced as Mr. Erdogan, who has been able to overcome a number of political crises in the past, including a threatened military coup in 2007, fail to see the bigger political picture?

In the past few days, Mr. Erdogan has claimed that those rallying against him were mobilized by the country’s opposition parties, especially the ultrasecular and ultranationalist bloc led by the Republican People’s Party (C.H.P.). He said the issue was not the park but a concerted political campaign against him by those who opposed his policies on partisan grounds. This was understandable given that his opponents have ignored the A.K.P.’s landmark achievements for the sake of partisanship in the past.

However, a quick look was enough to confirm that the opposition that took over Taksim last weekend was different. It was a largely nonpartisan movement made up of liberals, conservatives, independents and even likely A.K.P. voters. Their cause was later overshadowed by some violent groups, who dealt a serious blow to the public image of the protests through vandalism, looting and attacking women wearing head scarves. Yet the initial sit-in group, as well as those participating in the broader protests that followed, represented a broad cross section of society.

Mr. Erdogan has remained defiant, but there have been critics of his handling of the crisis within his own party. Among them was Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, one of the heavyweights of the A.K.P., who said authorities should have communicated with the protesters instead of tear-gassing them. He also openly praised a local administrative court that issued a stay on the Taksim project amid the continuing protests on Friday. And Turkey’s education minister, Nabi Avci, observed on Monday that the government had done what the secular opposition parties had not been able to achieve for years: within five days, the police crackdown brought together masses who had been incapable of uniting against the government. It even managed to unite the fans of three archrival Istanbul soccer teams, which were engaged in a fierce fight for a championship just a few weeks ago.

The protests are hitting Mr. Erdogan at an inopportune time. He has been campaigning for a constitutional change that would give broad executive powers to the currently ceremonial presidency, raising concerns over how checks and balances in this system will be ensured if he runs for the post before his self-imposed three-term limit expires in 2015. When the demonstrations erupted, he had not yet persuaded the nation to switch to an executive presidential system, but the Turkish public has learned in Mr. Erdogan’s more than 10 years of rule that he sooner or later succeeds in whatever he plans to do.