Soma coal mine

A prosecutor demanded the arrest of Soma Holding's chairman Alp Gürkan on March 26 over the 2014 disaster that claimed the lives of 301 miners in the Soma district of the Aegean province of Manisa. 

The authorities have refused to grant permission for the annual commemoration of those killed in Turkey's deadliest ever mine disaster in the Soma district of the western province of Manisa, which occurred in May 2014. 

Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has opened to sale 14 immovable properties worth some 33 million Turkish Liras belonging to Soma Holding Chairman Alp Gürkan, who has failed to pay installments on his 34-million-lira debt to his workers since October 2015. Gürkan operated the controversial Soma mine during the 2014 disaster which claimed the lives of 301 miners. 

An expert report prepared by seven experts from the Istanbul Technical University into the 2014 Soma mine disaster has stated that the owner of the mine and state institutions responsible for mining facilities, including the Labor and Social Security Ministry, were responsible for the tragedy that killed 301 miners. 

The trial into Turkey's deadliest mining disaster was postponed by one day on June 15, with the court ruling that there is a conflict of interests between the suspects and they should be represented by different lawyers.

Nine miners who survived the 2014 Soma mining disaster face six years in prison for breaching the law on demonstrations and willfully harming property during a protest to demand that the bodies of co-workers be extracted from the mine. 

Two members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) from Turkey's mining disaster-struck Aegean province of Manisa have told mine owners, who work with a royalty system, to bring miners to the AKP election rally in Manisa on May 24, according to a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy.

The families of the 301 workers killed in the mining disaster at the Soma coal mine in western Turkey have marched. Here are the photos

Eight former managers from the mine where Turkey's worst industrial disaster occurred in May 2014 appeared in court April 15 on murder charges, with prosecutors demanding they spend the rest of their lives in jail.

The first hearing into the Soma mine disaster, in which 301 workers were killed, is set to be held on April 13 after a Manisa court accepted the indictment of charges against 45 suspects.

The case will be heard by the Akhisar Court of Serious Crimes. There will be no time limit for the hearing.