Turkish Press Review

ISTANBUL 

The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Turkish dailies on Thursday extensively cover the funeral of eight workers whose bodies were recovered from a flooded mine, as well as Turkish former president Abdullah Gul's testimony in the "lost trillion case."  

The front page of today’s MILLIYET reads “They died cuddling,” referring to the miners. The newspaper reports that three of the miners, who were recovered 21 days after the flood, were found in a cuddling position.

Reporting on the same story, HURRIYET says around 10,000 people attended the funeral. 

There were 34 workers inside the mine located some 400 kilometers south of the capital, Ankara, in Karaman’s Ermenek district, when a water pipe exploded and caused a flood on Oct. 28. A total of 18 were said to be trapped in the mine.

Reporting on the funeral, SABAH quotes one of the deceased miners' mother, Ayse Gokce: “Didn’t I tell you my son doesn’t know how to swim.” The daily shows a picture of her squeezing her son's coffin, which is covered with a Turkish flag.

AKSAM quotes the head of the country’s Directorate of Religious Affairs, Mehmet Gormez, who spoke at the funeral: “It is a big sin to put people’s lives in danger without work safety."

Turkish newspapers also cover Turkey’s former president Abdullah Gul’s testimony in the country’s high-profile “lost trillion case.”

The "lost trillion case" refers to the long-running lawsuit against certain members of Turkey’s conservative Refah (Welfare) Party. They are accused of not paying back the Treasury 1 trillion Turkish lira the party had received in official grants before its shutdown in 1998. 

"He testified," reads HURRIYET's front page, alongside a photograph of Gul, his advisor, his lawyer, his bodyguard and Ankara’s chief public prosecutor, leaving the prosecutor’s office.

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