Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk

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. 

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. 

The Turkish government has started the third round of a one-time 1,000-Turkish Lira ($143) cash aid to cushion the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic on households.

Turkey has barred employers from laying off workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, a top government official said on April 16. 

Employment contracts cannot be nullified for a three-month period except in unconscionable situations, according to the country's labor, social services and family minister.

Turkey's government has launched a new program aimed at providing shelter to the country's homeless as part of a wider scheme against the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 30,000 people, killing more than 650 in the country.

Zambia and Turkey have held the first ministerial session of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) aimed at growing the economic bilateral relations, according to a statement by the Zambian Embassy in Turkey.

The monthly minimum wage in Turkey has been raised to 2,020 Turkish Liras ($381) by a 15-member commission led by Family, Labor and Social Services Minister Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk.