Supermarket to go it alone after failed talks damage hopes of reducing its exposure to a difficult overseas market Tesco is to battle on alone in Turkey after talks with potential partners for its ailing Kipa chain collapsed. Failure to secure a partner in Turkey is the latest setback for Tesco's chief executive, Philip Clarke, who is trying to reduce the firm's exposure to tricky overseas markets...
Image of Yusuf Yerkel kicking protester on visit to Soma went viral and came to symbolise government's botched handling of crisis The Turkish prime ministerial aide photographed kicking a grieving protester at the site of the country's worst mining disaster has been fired. Yusuf Yerkel was pictured lashing out at the man , who was already being restrained on the ground, during anti-government demonstrations...
Erdoan defends police who shot dead bystander as another person dies from injuries sustained in violence A second person has died from injuries sustained during overnight clashes between demonstrators and the police in the Istanbul neighbourhood of Okmeydani, prompting fears of further violence before the anniversary of anti-government protests a year ago. Tensions were further stoked on Friday when...
Ugur Kurt hit by a stray bullet apparently fired as riot police took on anti-government demonstrators A man died after being shot and critically injured while attending a funeral in Istanbul. Ugur Kurt, a 34-year-old cleaner and father of one, lived in the Okmeydani neighbourhood where a small group of protesters had gathered on Thursday to demonstrate about last week's mine disaster in Soma and the...
Discovery of oil and natural gas deposits in the Mediterranean highlights the growing importance the US has given to the region US vice-president Joe Biden arrived in Cyprus on Wednesday, the most senior US official to visit in more than 50 years, as the quest to find alternative energy routes into Europe focused international attention on the continent's only divided country. With the discovery of...
Veli Yilmaz's account includes collusion between authorities and owners over inspections, and route intimidation of workers Veli Yilmaz, a coal miner in Soma for nine years, was shocked when his bosses, the owners of the pit where 301 workers were killed last week, told him he would lose his bonus a third of his wages if he took a day off to attend his sister's funeral. Over the past week, Yilmaz,...
Don't expect the prime minister's aggression in Soma to shake the Turkish government. We grow up excusing the unprovoked blows of men in authority Christos Tsiolkas set his novel The Slap at a barbecue in suburban Melbourne. But a version of his story of patriarchal violence has been played out in the Turkish village of Soma, scene of the mining disaster last week that killed more than 300 . The country...
Mine operator executives reportedly among those detained after the country's worst industrial disaster Turkish police detained 24 people, including executives of the mining company Soma Holding, on Sunday as part of an investigation into the worst mining disaster in the country's history. Local media reported that Ramazan Dogru, the general manager of the mine, and its operations manager, Akin Celik,...
Yusuf Yerkel is diagnosed with soft tissue trauma in his right leg - the one he used to lay in to the demonstrator The Turkish prime ministerial aide photographed last week kicking a protester at the site of the country's worst mine disaster is on sick leave after being diagnosed with soft tissue trauma in his right leg the same one he used to lay in to the demonstrator. The photograph shows Yusuf...
Mona art gallery owner and his wife escape water cannons and tear gas used by Turkish police on a protesting crowd The multi-millionaire owner of Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), David Walsh, has been caught up in an Istanbul riot. Walsh and his wife, Kirsha Kaechele, have escaped water cannons and tear gas used by Turkish police on a crowd protesting over last week's mine tragedy. Continue...
Executives from the mine operator are reportedly among those detained after the country's worst industrial disaster Turkish police have detained 18 people suspected of negligence in connection with this week's deadly mine disaster, including executives from the mine operator, local media reported. Rescue operations ended on Saturday after the bodies of the last two trapped miners were recovered, following...
Winter Sleep director compares Turkey with Japan, where the prime minister resigned after the Fukushima disaster Xan Brooks' review of Winter Sleep Turkish film director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has expressed his dismay that no one has yet resigned from Turkey's government over the Soma mine disaster. Speaking on Saturday at a press conference at the Cannes film festival following the premiere of his new...
Rescuers forced to retreat from Soma coalmine, while death toll from Turkey's worst ever industrial disaster passes 300 A fire broke out as rescue efforts drew to a close in the Turkish mine where more than 300 workers were killed in the country's worst ever industrial disaster. Rescue teams were seen retreating as firefighters moved in to tackle the blaze. The death toll rose to 301 as the bodies...
On terrible occasions, leaders must not only be physically present, they must say the right words, and mean them Disasters can shake governments and sometimes bring them down, if the issues they raise of preparedness, regulation and empathy are not squarely faced and answered in a way people find satisfactory, even in the extremity of their grief. New Orleans and Fukushima were both examples of how...
Teargas and plastic bullets used on protesters at scene of worst industrial accident amid anger at PM's offhand remarks towards victims Turkish police used teargas, plastic bullets and water cannon to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered on Friday at the scene of the country's worst industrial accident to protest the country's dismal work safety record, and the prime minister's apparently...
Officials say death toll from explosion at mine in western Turkey likely to be around 300, but some say more are trapped The final death toll from Turkey's mine disaster will likely be around 300, government officials have said, though furious locals say the authorities are covering up far greater loss of life. According to the latest official numbers, the number killed in Monday's explosion and fire...
Officials who work for the mining company Soma Holdings say they are still unclear what led to the mining disaster in which 284 workers are known to have died. The plant manager, Akin Celik, denies the company is guilty of negligence and says the disaster is worse than anything he has seen in his 20 years in the industry. The company says 787 workers were in the mine at the time, of which 122 were...
British-based activist group says women and children among up to 29 dead after possible suicide blast in Aleppo An explosion near a border crossing between Syria and Turkey killed as many as 29 people and wounded many others, an activist group monitoring the Syrian civil war said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion occurred on Thursday at a garage near the Bab...
No wonder people in Turkey are angry - the prime minister seemed less focused on finding justice than listing old mining disasters In the devastated Turkish town of Soma yesterday, a crowd of angry mourners mobbed the prime minister's convoy as it drove slowly through the streets. Boos and jeers threatened to drown out Recep Tayyip Erdoan's words as he addressed the families of those who died in the...
Thousands join strike and crowds heckle president while relatives begin to bury the nearly 300 coalminers killed in Soma Anger at the deadly mine explosion in Turkey spread across the country on Thursday as thousands of workers joined a protest strike, demonstrators clashed with security forces, and families began to bury scores of men killed in the disaster. As the death toll at the Soma coalmine...