SINCAN, Turkey (AP) - Tens of thousands of supporters of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are rallying in a suburb of Turkey's capital.

It amounted to a powerful show of support as his government faces down protesters holed up in an Istanbul park for the last two weeks.

The flag-waving Erdogan supporters converged on Saturday in Sincan - a suburb of the capital Ankara that is a stronghold of his Justice and Development Party.

Organisers hoisted a giant poster of PM Erdogan above a platform where he was expected to speak later.

Earlier Saturday, protesters at Istanbul's Gezi Park vowed to press on with their two-week sit-in there, defying government appeals and a warning from PM Erdogan for an end to the standoff. The sit-in has become one of the most public challenges to his decade-long tenure.