Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk

Outgoing Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan. Photo: Turkish Trade Ministry

"The company was preferred due to its low price and the need to obtain those products because of the pandemic," the ministry said on April 20. It also insisted that purchases from the company were worth only 51,000 euros and were carried out in line with relevant regulations and the law.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has replaced Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan by a senior ruling party official, Mehmet Muş, and appointed Derya Yanık as the new minister for family and social services and Vedat Bilgin as the minister for labor and social security after abolishing Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry.

Within the scope of a project called "Engineer Girls of Turkey" to promote women interested in the field of engineering, more than 22,000 high school students have actively taken part in the program amid the ongoing pandemic, Turkey's Family, Labor and Social Services minister has said.

Turkey withdrew from a European treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, according to the country's Official Gazette early on March 20. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a decree to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention that was signed in 2011.

Aimed at protecting employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey extended a ban on layoffs for another two months starting as of March 17, according to a presidential decree published on Official Gazette early on March 9. 

A woman was filmed being beaten up on the street by a man before the eyes of her child on March 6, as the video went viral on Turkish social media, with users calling out the issue which has failed to come to an end in the country where femicide are also rift.

Six Turkish ministers gathered on Dec. 30 to discuss the country's reform agenda, the host minister said.

Turkey is raising its minimum wage by 21.56% as of Jan. 1, the country's family, labor and social services minister announced on Dec. 28. 

Net minimum wage for single people will be 2,826 Turkish liras ($377) a month, up from 2,324 Turkish liras a month ($310), Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk said.

The Turkish government is planning to extend a three-month layoff ban introduced by parliament in mid-April, according to the family, labor and social services minister.

"Restriction on termination [of employment contract] has been an important element in protecting rights of employees during the pandemic period," Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk told private broadcaster NTV on June 13.

More than 2 billion Turkish liras have been collected so far under Turkey's National Solidarity Campaign to aid the fight against COVID-19, a government official said on May 23.