AS THE mass uprising swept Turkey for a fourth day yesterday, Turkish trade unions called a three-day general strike against prime minister Erdogan’s AK Party government.
The main trade unions, including the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions (DISK), the Confederation of Public Workers’ Unions (KESK), and the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Egitim-Sen), called the three day strike for today, tomorrow and Thursday.
The strike call follows increasingly violent attacks on anti-government protests overnight on Sunday, when police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters who marched on Erdogan’s offices in the Besiktas of Istanbul and in the capital Ankara on Sunday, injuring many, and killing one protester.
One protester died of injuries after a vehicle slammed into crowd.
In its strike call, Istanbul Egitim Sen Branch No 6 said: ‘We call on all our members and university workers to support our labour strike with the conscience and responsibility attached to these historic days, and to elevate our just struggle against AKP’s anti-labour policies and state terror.’
Mosques, shops and a university in Besiktas were turned into makeshift hospitals for those injured in Sunday night’s demonstration.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters, who tore up paving stones to build barricades.
‘Dictator, resign! . . . We will resist until we win,’ yelled the crowds, who hurled stones and lit fires in the streets.
Unrest was also reported in the western coastal city of Izmir, Adana in the south and Gaziantep in the south-east.
In the western port city of Izmir, protesters threw fire bombs at ruling AK Party offices overnight, as police stormed a commercial compound in Ankara and arrested many.
Officials said more than 1,700 people were arrested in demonstrations in 67 towns and cities.
Turkey’s main stock exchange dropped sharply on opening yesterday, down eight per cent.
The Turkish lira weakened to 1.8910 against the dollar, a decline from 1.8706 on Friday and the yield on Turkey’s benchmark 10-year bonds climbed to 7.12 per cent from 6.84 per cent on Friday.
Leaving the country for Morocco on Sunday, Erdogan blamed ‘extremists’ at home and abroad for the uprising sweeping the country.
‘These are organised events with affiliations both within Turkey and abroad,’ he claimed. ‘The main opposition party CHP has provoked my innocent citizens.
‘Those who make news and call these events the Turkish Spring do not know Turkey,’ the prime minister claimed, as he flew out of the country.
