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AKP government under fire over coal mine tragedy

Was the mine disaster in Turkey, which has claimed at least 283 lives, the result of flawed policies and negligent acts, or an inevitable accident?
A protester is kicked by Yusuf Yerkel (L), advisor to Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, as Special Forces police officers detain him during a protest against Erdogan's visit to Soma, a district in Turkey's western province of Manisa May 14, 2014. Four Turkish labour unions called for a national one-day strike on Thursday in protest against the country's worst industrial disaster that killed at least 282 people in a coal mine in western Turkey. Picture taken May 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mehmet Emin Al/Depo Ph
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Turkey is mourning the terrible disaster at a coal mine in the western mining town of Soma, where the death toll is approaching 300 amid fears it could eventually exceed 500. A three-day period of national mourning has been declared.

Furious protests greeted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he visited Soma on May 14, with the anger spilling over across the country as dead bodies keep emerging from the mine.

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