The protests were triggered by the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, mayor of Istanbul and a potential challenger to president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next presidential elections.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu became the first high level diplomat to visit Israel in the last 15 years since relations between both the countries deteriorated over the Israeli attack on Gaza in 2008 that killed over 1,400 Palestinians

After months of negotiations and protests, the right-wing AKP government announced on Thursday that the minimum wage will increase next year to 4,250 Turkish Lira from the current 2,850 Turkish Lira. This is against the unions’ demand of a minimum wage of at least 5,200 Turkish Lira

Turkey has occupied a large part of Syrian territory, citing threats from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the inflow of refugees. However, Syria has accused it of supporting rebel fighters and prolonging the war

The protesters demanded that Turkey should not withdraw from the 2011 Istanbul Convention which asks the signatories to enact laws to prevent violence against Women.

Two of the MPs from the pro-Kurdish HDP have been convicted of belonging to a “terrorist organization” and the other from the Republican People’s Party has been persecuted for providing information to a journalist