Winter of Labor Unrest Tests Erdogan’s Bid to Reshape the Turkish Economy
The strikes show how fast-rising prices are causing major headaches for the president, who faces elections next year.
Supermarket Migros warehouse workers celebrate outside the company warehouse after their claims were accepted, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Feb. 21.
Photographer: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s gamble on turning Turkey into a manufacturing power propelled by a cheap lira is being buffeted by a wave of industrial action as runaway prices consume wages.
Thousands of workers at more than 60 companies ranging from textiles to transportation, mining and construction have joined mostly short-lived strikes in recent months. They are protesting a cost-of-living crisis that poses the biggest threat to the president’s policy tilt, and perhaps even to his two decades in power with elections due next year.