General Strike of Public Employees (January 2026)

Public sector laborers staged a one-day wildcat strike across Turkey on January 14, 2026, demanding a 20 percent additional raise in response to the wage increase set for 2026.

The strike, called by KESK, took place in Office, Banking and Insurance Services, Education and Science Services, Health and Social Services, Local Administration Services, Press, Publication and Communication Services, Culture and Art Services, Infrastructure, Construction and Rural Services, Transportation Services, Agriculture and Forestry Services and Energy, Industry and Mining Services sectors.

As far as we can determine, the strike took place in 64 cities including Adana, Adıyaman, Afyon, Ağrı, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Antep, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bartın, Batman, Bingöl, Bitlis, Bolu, Bursa, Çanakkale, Çorum, Denizli, Dersim, Diyarbakır, Düzce, Edirne, Elazığ, Erzincan, Eskişehir, Giresun, Hakkari, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Karabük, Karaman, Kars, Kırıkkale, Kırklareli, Kırşehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kütahya, Malatya, Manisa, Maraş, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Nevşehir, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Şırnak, Tokat, Trabzon, Urfa, Uşak, Van, Yalova and Zonguldak.