TEHRAN Turkish language daily **** Zaman **** in its yesterday's issue disclosed that over 1,000 journalists are now jobless because of ongoing economic crisis in the country, a report from Ankara said.

Istanbul-based **** Zaman **** said, "Due to financial problems, the publishers were forced to close down their periodicals."

According to another report, police on Tuesday detained dozens of public sector workers calling for wage hikes and government resignations in the wake of a financial crisis that has seen the Turkish lira lose more than a quarter of its value.

Members of the left-leaning Kesk Union gathered in cities across Turkey to protest against IMF-backed economic reforms, which lie in ruin after the government floated the currency last week to stave off financial turmoil that saw stratospheric interest rates and a plummeting stock market.

The lira hovered at 985,000 to the dollar on Tuesday, a 30 percent depreciation since its flotation last Thursday.