Source: Uncertain [15-16 June 1970 - Workers Protests] association, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to strike— have been subject to bans and/ or restriction. These rights were not recognized at the Constitutional level until 1961. From 1961 until the coup d’état of September 12, 1980, an atmosphere of relative freedom allowed unions to operate at their strongest, and the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike were widely exercised. In the “new” Turkey established by the 1980 coup, the first restrictions and bans imposed concerned collective labour rights. New legislation was introduced for unions, collective bargaining and strikes, and the activities of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK)— the leading trade union in the prior period— were halted and a new union regime was established. The aftermath of the 1980 coup saw most of the development of the current framework shaping the field of employment relations and trade unions in contemporary Turkey. In the 2000’s, despite the occasional raising of expectations caused by laterintroduced amendments, the collective labour rights environment became increasingly restrictive. Moreover, the space to exercise the right to freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to strike— the fundamental basis of collective labour rights— were severely limited, both legislatively and even more so in practice. Using as a legal basis Law No. 6356 on Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreement, issued in 2012, the right to strike was almost entirely denied. Continuous postponements based on the legislation acted as de facto bans. In short, the basic paradigm of employment legislation in Turkey, established by the 1980 coup, Source: Uncertain [1977-1980 Maden İş MESS strikes] 8 C O L L E C T I V E R I G H T S O F W O R K E R S U N D E R T U R K E Y ’ S C O N T I N U O U S S TAT E O F E M E R G E N C Y T R A D E U N I O N R I G H T S I N E U R O P E A N A N D E U R O P E A N - A F F I L I AT E D E N T E R P R I S E S 9