TURKEY WORKERS PROTEST

TURKEY has freed 160 workers out of almost 600 who were arrested following a protest over  work-related deaths and poor conditions at the construction site for Istanbul's third airport.

Hundreds of labourers were arrested late on Friday as the security forces sought to break up  a  demonstration outside Istanbul Grand Airport, a huge development which Ankara has claimed will  be the biggest in the world.

Almost 20 were arrested on Saturday as they rallied in support of the detainees.

Some 35,000 people are employed on the project which is due to be completed next month but which has come under fire over its safety record after 27 workers died at the site..... half of them in work related incidents, transport ministry figures show.

But around a quarter of them have now been released, union figures told AFP  on Sunday.

''Nearly 600 of our friends were arrested, and 160 were freed last night,'' Ozgur Karabultut, who heads the Dev Yapi - Is union, tolf AFP.

''We don't have any information about the others, nor do the lawyers nor the MPs,'' he told a press conference in Istanbul, which was also attended by other union reps.

At Friday's demonstration, the protesters complained about  work-related deaths and accidents at the site, as well as  poor living conditions, which reported included fleas and bedbugs.

In a statement issued on Friday, airport construction and operating company IGA  and management had met the workers and pledged to resolve the issues  '' as quickly as possible ''.

Contacted by AFP on Saturdy, the IGA made no comment on the arrests.

Despite the  figures of  27  on-site deaths released  by the transport ministry in April, several workers told AFP the number was likely much higher, saying accidents were very common at the site.

Earlier this year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the new airport would be the biggest  in the world with a first phase capacity of of 90 million passengers, reaching 150 million by 2023. [Agencies]