The textile industry in Turkey’s historic production hub Bursa is facing extinction due to rising costs and global competition. Many Turkish textile companies are shutting down or declaring bankruptcy as Egypt emerges as a competitor and buyers’ preferences shift to Chinese products. Thousands of workers are at risk of unemployment, especially those who are unregistered or work under precarious conditions. Located in western Turkey, Bursa has been the country’s textile hub since it received its first shipment of silk imports …

In a tough media landscape, parliamentary reporting has become a rare stronghold for women – but true equality remains elusive. Across the world, gender inequality remains deeply rooted in workplaces, and journalism is no exception. In Turkey, women journalists face additional hurdles from an increasingly restrictive political climate and economic instability. Yet within this difficult environment, parliamentary reporting in Ankara stands out as a rare space where women have carved out a strong and respected presence. This achievement didn’t happen …

Amid Turkey’s ongoing economic turmoil, a series of recent incidents have highlighted poor pay and conditions experienced by industrial workers, with many of the effects felt most strongly by women. In December 2024, an explosion at a capsule production facility in Balıkesir killed 11 employees, eight of whom were female. In July the same year, 146 workers, most of them women, were dismissed from the Polonez Meat Products factory in Istanbul after joining a union, sparking a six-month protest that …

For the first time in Turkey, the concept of “family massacre” has been formally addressed in the Turkish parliament, with the recent publication of a report by the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Violence targeting women and children has long been a topic of discussion in the Turkish media and among civil society organisations, MPs and campaigners. But “Children Killed in Femicide”, a project of CHP member of parliament Sevda Erdan Kılıç that investigates men who kill their partners and …

In Turkish households, few things signal care and community as much as a tray filled with homemade pastries and fresh tea, and the chatter of women catching up in a friend’s living room. For generations, this scene has meant more than comfort – it has also served as a way for women to support each other financially, emotionally and socially. Recent local news reports of a group of women in Kocaeli, western Turkey, who defied a snowstorm to attend a …

“We used to visit my mum and dad with my children on the first day of Eid,” says Seher Yiğit. “Now, the only place I can visit is the empty lot where their home used to stand. I kiss gravestones, instead of my parents’ hands.” Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, has just been celebrated by millions of Muslims all around the world. But for thousands of people who lost loved ones in the massive twin earthquakes that …

It was 1960 when the prominent archaeologist and feminist Sally Binford said, “I’m not here to cook; I’m here to dig.” Yet 65 years later, gender inequality in archeology persists. Despite an increase in the number of female archeologists in Turkey and around the world, women continue to face obstacles both in the field and in universities. Professor Çiler Çilingiroğlu, a member of the Ege University archeology department, tells Inside Turkey that during digs, women are often assigned documentation and …

“City children can get hold of books one way or another,” says Devran Sinanoğlu as he neatly shelves books in a brand new high school library, built at the foot of a mountain in Ovabağ, rural Diyarbakır province. “But the children in the village don’t have that opportunity. So, we try to enrich their worlds with books.” This is not the first library that Sinanoğlu has built. The 36-year-old author and biology teacher has contributed 120 libraries to Diyarbakır in …

Selda Çelik, a 35-year-old who lives alone in Turkey’s western coastal province of İzmir, says that she feels most vulnerable at night. She assiduously follows steps she hopes will keep her safe; always double-locking the door of her ground floor flat, closing the shutters on the windows and checking her surroundings to be sure no one follows her home. Çelik even tries not to park her car too close to the house, to make it harder for strangers to know …

Black figs, which happened to be a favourite delicacy of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II, are a traditional agricultural product of Turkey’s north-east. In recent years, women farmers have been making inroads in a historically male-dominated industry – but several tell Inside Turkey that obstacles remain. Agricultural engineer Sıla Özkan comes from a rice farming family. She started her own business upon completing her graduate degree and has exported black figs to Moldova for the last year. Özkan successfully applied …