Catherine Collıns

Last week, thousands of protesters closed businesses and blocked highways in Ankara and Istanbul, shouting, The government must resign! and waving placards with the words Youre sucking our blood.

The Turkish Journalists Association said 3,000 of Turkeys 12,000 journalists have been laid off since mid-February, when the country was plunged into an economic crisis.

The strikers seek abolition of state security courts, which are used for political trials and other sensitive cases. They demand more rights for the Kurdish people in Turkey and a break with an economic reform agreement reached with the IMF.