Turkey
On eve of court case to ban AKP
Turkish prime minister blames PKK for Istanbul terror attacks
By Sinan Ikinci and Stefan Steinberg, July 29, 2008
On Sunday, Istanbul, Turkey’s major city and economic centre with 12 million inhabitants, was rocked by two successive bomb blasts in the residential neighbourhood of Gungören at around 9:45 p....
Istanbul police attack municipal workers
By our Turkish correspondent, July 19, 2008
Some 2,000 municipal workers trying to stage a peaceful protest in Istanbul July 17 as part of a labour dispute were violently attacked by Turkish riot police.
Armed attack on US consulate in Istanbul
By Sinan Ikinci, July 11, 2008
On July 9, at about 10:30 a.m., a group of assailants opened fire on police in front of the US consulate in Istanbul. A gun battle ensued in which three police officers and three of the four attackers...
Turkey: Coup plot arrests deepen political crisis
By Sinan Ikinci, July 7, 2008
With the arrests of 23 people in the early morning hours of July 1 on charges of involvement in an alleged coup plot, the bitter struggle within Turkey’s state apparatus has escalated sharply.
Strike by Turkish tyre workers ends with real wage losses
By our Turkish correspondent, June 21, 2008
On June 13, the Union of Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Industry Workers of Turkey (Lastik-Is) ended a two-week strike at four factories of three multinational rubber companies. On June 14, 4,000 tyre...
Turkey’s Constitutional Court re-imposes ban on Muslim headscarf at universities
By Sinan Ikinci, June 9, 2008
On June 5, Turkey’s Constitutional Court took another critical step towards unseating the governing Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) by annulling recent constitutional amendments per...
Turkish tyre workers strike Bridgestone, Goodyear and Pirelli
By our Turkish correspondent, June 5, 2008
Approximately 4,000 workers—members of the Union of Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Industry Workers of Turkey (Lastik-Is)—went on strike late Saturday, May 31, at four tyre production faci...
Turkey: Conflict escalates between government and judiciary
By Sinan Ikinci, May 29, 2008
The conflict between the Kemalist establishment and the elected government of the Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) led by Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan has reached a new peak.
Turkish youth hit hardest by unemployment
By Sinan Ikinci, May 16, 2008
A recent report by the UN’s global development network, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), entitled “Youth in Turkey,” paints a grim picture of the future prospects for...
Turkish government pledges new attacks on workers
By Sinan Ikinci, May 15, 2008
On May 9, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) convened and completed the seventh review of its standby arrangement with Turkey, which was given final approval on May 11, 2005....
Turkey: May Day demonstration in Istanbul brutally suppressed
By our correspondent, May 5, 2008
On May 1, Turkish riot police savagely attacked peaceful demonstrators with clubs and fired pepper spray and water cannon to prevent them taking part in a May Day rally heading to Taksim Square, the c...
Turkish jobless rate increases dramatically
By Sinan Ikinci, February 23, 2008
According to recent data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), the country’s official unemployment rate once again neared the crisis level of 2001, rising to 10.1 percent in Nov...
