According to Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, over 240 people died in the explosion and subsequent collapse of a coal mine in the western Turkish town of Soma. Hundreds more are trapped inside, and the hope of finding survivors is dwindling.

Many Turks have been left shaken by the incident and are grieving for the victims, while anger is spreading. The general frustration is particularly evident on social networking sites, where users are turning against Erdogan's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP). The conservative government has been accused of neglecting workers' safety and saving money in the wrong places.

Public mourning

The most active online protesters on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are easy to identify by their completely black profile photos; some show a plain black ribbon.

"May God be with you," wrote one user on Facebook. Another used Instagram to draw attention to the poor wages paid by Turkish mines. He published a photo of a mine entrance with the caption, "Would you go in there for five lira [around 1.75 euros or $2.40] per hour knowing you may never come out alive?"

Under the hashtag #KazaDegilCinayet, which means "no accident - murder," users are directing their anger at the company in charge of the mine, Soma Holding. One tweet proclaims, "Soma is a murderer." Another asks, "What safety regulation permits 800 miners to be inside a mine at the same time?" Another calls it, bluntly, the "Soma massacre."

Turkish trade union confederations DISK and KESK have also been using social media to influence public opinion. With the message, "It's not a work accident but murder," they called for mass demonstrations and three minutes of silence on Thursday (15.05.2014) via Facebook and Twitter.

The people of Turkey have been asked to dress in black and hang black sheets of fabric out of their windows. Kani Beko, chairperson of revolutionary union confederation DISK, has described the mine disaster as a "massacre" and said that the authorities' primary concern is profit.

Attack on the government

Left-leaning newspaper "Cumhuriyet" has criticized the Turkish government for rejecting a proposal to have the Soma mine inspected, put forward by opposition party CHP during a parliamentary session over two weeks ago. In the same session, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) presented statistics on mine accidents in Soma.

Murat Yetkin, a columnist for the English-language "Hürriyet Daily News," has criticized the government's decision, giving his article the caption: "The government ignored the warnings, the miners pay with their lives." Turkish television broadcaster CNN Türk has also pointed the finger at the AKP, airing a speech by CHP member Özgür Özel that accuses the government of having ignored warnings about the dangerous conditions in the mine. "It was foreseeable that something like this would happen," said Özel in his statement.

Meanwhile, pro-government newspaper "Sabah" has focused on the labor ministry's official statements about the Soma incident, distancing itself from any critical claims regarding safety provisions at the mine. "We hope that those of our brothers who are trapped in the mine can be rescued alive," it quotes the labor ministry as saying.

One article in liberal-nationalist newspaper "Hürriyet" bears the title, "Turkey is a graveyard for miners," and lists the 13 largest mining accidents to have taken place in the country since 1983. The article also points out that Turkey has the highest rate of industrial accidents in Europe.

Another paper, "Habertürk," published a calendar of scheduled demonstrations in response to the disaster. They are set to take place in 21 cities across Turkey.