Turkey

TURKEY | 14-12-2013 | Following the landmark judgment of the Constitutional Court in releasing the CHP (Republican People’s Party) MP Mustafa Balbay, lawyers for BDP (Peace and Democracy Party)  MPs in custody have applied to the courts for the release of their clients, saying a precedent has been set. Elected BDP deputies have still not been released despite the publication ...

ISTANBUL | 08-12-2013 | 28 dismissed workers at Punto Deri, members of IndustriALL Global Union’s Turkish affiliate Deri-Is, have been picketing for more than three months for their fundamental rights. Located at Istanbul’s famous leather zone Zeytinburnu, Punto Deri produces for may international brands such as ZAPA, Strenesse, Lacoste, Laurel, Armani, Beckham, Bijing Sheng, Denham the Jean Maker, Girgio Sam, ...

ISTANBUL | 06-12-2013 | DESA, producing for many well-known brands such as Prada, Gucci, Debenhams, Whistless, Marks and Spencer, is one of the leading exporting companies in the leather sector in Turkey with three factories in Istanbul, Duzce and Corlu employing around 2,000 workers. Deri-Is and its members have faced increasing and systematic discrimination by DESA since the union established a ...

TURKEY | 12-11-2013 | The March 26 bombings of Kuskonar and Kocagili – Turkish villages close to the borders of both Syria and Iraq – caused at least 38 deaths. The Turkish government blamed the attack on the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (KWP), who from 1984 until March this year had fought an armed struggle for the establishment of an ...

ISTANBUL | 20-09-2013 | Istanbul 19th Court of First Instance has sentenced world-renowned pianist and composer Fazıl Say to ten months in prison for allegedly insulting Islamic religious values on social network Twitter. The famed pianist was accused of blasphemy in April after he tweeted verses by Persian poet Omer Khayyam which said that ““You say its rivers will flow ...

MERSIN | 18-09-2013 | A riot policeman beat an eight year old child up after the boy refused his request to “hit his friend”. Eight year old D.Ö. was playing in front of the police station in the Şevket Sümer neighborhood of southern province of Mersin. A riot policeman asked the boy to hit another policeman standing near him. The ...

ISTANBUL | 17-09-2013 | One of the most controversial cases of recent Turkish history, murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, restarts. Dink family denies to attend trials of ‘crime coalition’s game’ as court issues an arrest warrant for the key suspect Erhan Tuncel An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant and suspect ...

ANC | 16-09-2013 | On September 14th an MLKP militant named Serkan Tosun lost his life during a clash in Serêkaniyê. The MLKP- CC published a statement on the martyrdom of  Tosun. “in the struggle to defend the revolution in Rojava, Serkan Tosun, our militant comrade known as Mazlum, was martyred during a clash on 14th September 2013 around 5pm ...

TURKEY | 12-09-2013 | Turkish police continue to use excessive force against demonstrators who are taking to the streets to protest the police violence that has claimed another life two days ago, of 22 year old Ahmet Atakan who lost his life during protests in the city. Police attacked thousands of people who have gathered once again today in the ...

TURKEY | 12-09-2013| On 12 September 1980, a National Security Council which brings together the chief of General Staff, general Kenan Evrem , and chiefs of staff of army and security forces took power by proclaiming a state of siege throughout the country. Politicians, from Ecevit to Demirel, Erbakan, Turkes are arrested, the National Assembly is dissolved and the activities ...