Turkish prostitutes on strike over police pressure

The women complain that police have slapped restrictions on playing music, leaning out of windows and talking to customers outside the state-run brothels where they work.

"Can't we talk to customers who come to our door? This is a place of entertainment of a kind and tapes are played and we chat with customers," the agency quoted an unnamed prostitute as saying. "We pay our taxes and insurance but we get this bad treatment."

Turkey allows licensed sex workers to trade in approved buildings known as "General Houses." It was not clear how long the strike would last.