Gendarmes detain workers protesting a phone ban at the HABAŞ steel plant where 19 died in an explosion

A ban at the gate

Workers on the morning shift at the HABAŞ iron and steel plant in Aliağa, İzmir, refused to go in on Friday after a notice at the entrance said employees who did not hand over their mobile phones would not be let through the turnstiles, Hürriyet, NTV and Habertürk reported. The workers stopped work and began waiting in front of the plant.

According to the claim carried by the outlets, the ban was ordered by the company’s chairman, Mehmet Rüştü Başaran, who is under house arrest. Medyascope also reported that Başaran had given the instruction.

Tension rose during the protest. Hürriyet and NTV said a scuffle broke out when a person identified as a factory official attacked a union official, and workers were then seen beating that person.

Detentions on the road

Workers blocked the road in front of the plant, and gendarmes intervened, Medyascope and Diken reported. Videos carried by news agencies showed some workers being detained by security forces, BBC Türkçe said.

The Ege İşçi Birliği (Aegean Workers’ Union), a workers’ group, said on social media that nearly 20 people had been detained, among them its spokesperson Yücel Memiş. Earlier in the day Memiş said attempts had been made to take workers’ phones at the gate, and that production had continued for days in some parts of the plant. The group’s spokesperson accused state officials and the factory’s management of failing to explain what happened and of a lack of transparency.

“Let the factory be inspected by independent bodies and made safe for workers. Until then, let the workers be given paid leave.”

Ege İşçi Birliği spokesperson, BBC Türkçe(translated)

Workers also clashed with representatives of Türk Metal, the union they belong to, and drove them from the site, the spokesperson said. The union had been criticised by workers for issuing only a message of condolence after the explosion, BBC Türkçe reported.

The explosion and the investigation

The explosion happened at around 11:46 on 9 November during work to replace a boiler, when an overhead crane fell and debris struck a natural gas line, according to Hürriyet and Habertürk. Nineteen workers were killed and 14 injured; NTV put the death toll at 18. HABAŞ said the accident happened during planned maintenance on one of its electric arc furnaces.

Of 11 suspects detained by the Aliağa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, nine were jailed pending trial, while Başaran and one other suspect were placed under house arrest. The broadcasting regulator RTÜK banned coverage of the incident, BBC Türkçe reported.

According to the Health and Safety Labour Watch (İSİG), which records workplace deaths, at least 45 workers have died at HABAŞ since the plant was founded, and two more died in separate accidents there in the past two weeks. HABAŞ executives face at least two cases over fatal accidents that are now on appeal; in one, heard in May 2026, Başaran and other officials were sentenced to four years, 10 months and 10 days in prison for causing death by negligence.