According to a report released by Worker Health and Work Security Assembly, at least 68 workers were reported killed at work in January

"In 2012, approximately 8,000 contracted private soldiers quit the Turkish Army which required the deployment of compulsory drafted civilians into the clash zone in the southeastern Turkey,"Esef Merdoğlu, a retired army staff association chair, told bianet.

An explosion due to a gas leak at a coal mine in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak left 8 mine workers dead yesterday afternoon.

At least 76 workers were reported to have died at work in December 2012 while the total number of worker casualties reached 878 in the entire year, according to a work safety organization report.

At least 82 workers have lost their lives at work in November adding up to total death toll of 802 in 2011, according to data compiled by a worker health and safety association.

Workers in Turkey still suffer from strike bans and police violence on 14 November, European Day of Action and Solidarity.

1.500 union workers occupied their Renault car factory in Bursa, protesting a collective labor agreement. Attacks were reported on some dozen workers joining the protest from another factory.

According to the report by the Assembly for Worker Health and Work Security, at least 83 workers died in September.

Authorities launched an investigation against a number of workers who began holding sit-in demonstrations after they were fired from Roseteks Company without any severance pay. The police then rounded them up from their homes without any prior legal notice.

The Atatürk Airport Security Commission decided to ban all demonstrations and acts of protest inside airport grounds. The move comes in wake of a decision by the Turkish Airlines (THY) to lay off 305 employees who had gone on a strike, while the head of the Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-İş) also warned of safety hazards caused by a shortage of employees.

Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated May 1 in Turkey enthusiastically. There were clashes between the demonstrators and the police in Tunceli and Ankara.

Governor Mutlu warned “I won't allow the May 1 celebrations at Taksim Square if any incident happens this year” and the DISK Chair Ekinci answered “We have been celebrating May First there for 2 years, nothing happened. If they mean ‘provocation’, they have to remember 1977”.