electricians, drywall finishers, painters, all entered the floor at the same time. If I would have left the cable there, it would be gone by the next morning, it would be trash, I would have to open a new one. So I was rushing and placed the ladder clumsily. It slid away [from under me], I was hanging in the air and my friend came and helped me down. My shoulders hurt badly. I was planning on going to the hospital the next day and would not work. I did not leave my room that [the next] day and slept until 09.00 in the dormitory. At 09.00, my friend Mehmet, who would later stand trial with me, came to the ward. We stayed in the same room. He woke me up. He said, “wake up, there is a protest.” I joined the protest. I saw that a Gendarmerie Commander was there, talking to workers and trying to calm them down, telling them things like “Don’t do it. What you’re doing is unlawful, you’ll all get into trouble, just leave.” In that moment, me and some friends reacted. We said “You should leave. Do you provide us bread? Do you give us jobs or food? Why are here, talking to us? Who are you?” Then we entered the cinema hall with colleagues. There, we talked about our problems for a while and voiced our demands. Our unionist friends were also there, they took notes. give it back to me for months. I did not take my phone with me and they asked me where my phone was. I said: “it’s in the car.” They said, “Wherever it is, you find it and bring it here.” I said fine and brought the phone. He opened the phone, searched my WhatsApp, my social media accounts and gallery. Then he took my phone and started asking “Do you know this and that person? Who is this?” at the gendarmerie station inside the camp. Then we went to the dormitory and toured around to call other friends to join us. We toured the camp with slogans. Meanwhile, I left the group and decided to go to my room to change my clothes because I had left in my pyjamas. Then, I went to the protest area and saw a crowd of workers. That is where I joined the resistance. I stayed at the resistance until 01.00. I was a little tired, so I went back to the dormitory to rest and stayed there until 17.00. I woke up and went to the cafeteria. Nothing had changed, it was the same food. I rested in the dormitory for a long time. We received a call at around 22.00 and were told we would be taken into custody tonight. They started the operation around 02.00. They also took our unionist friends into custody. They are standing trial with us. In the morning, I went to the protest area and saw that the gendarmerie formed a thick wall around the workers. We were walking to work under the shadow of guns. We went to the cafeteria. Again, the gendarmerie was there. We walked down the stairs, the gendarmerie was everywhere. They stopped the busses and checked our IDs. We arrived at the workplace. Again, the gendarmerie was there. That day, we worked until 22.3023.00 under the shadow of guns. We were called at 23.00 and were called into the office. We went to the office and were told that “a custody decision has been issued for you.” We were actually only called to testify, but they tricked us saying that we would be taken into custody. We, four people, went to the gendarmerie station. I did not have my phone with me because I thought they would seize it and would not Apparently I participated in an unauthorised assembly, I resisted against a gendarmerie and prevented him from completing his tasks, I prevented his right to work, I damaged public property and Cengiz’s property (he refers to the construction company that is part of the consortium). 92 C O L L E C T I V E R I G H T S O F W O R K E R S U N D E R T U R K E Y ’ S C O N T I N U O U S S TAT E O F E M E R G E N C Y T R A D E U N I O N R I G H T S I N E U R O P E A N A N D E U R O P E A N - A F F I L I AT E D E N T E R P R I S E S Then a quick custody decision was issued and we were brought to a police station in Arnavutköy. There, we, 20 people, stayed in a two-person cell for hours until our statements were taken. From there, we were transferred to the gendarmerie station in Maslak. They took our fingertips, written statements, etc. But throughout this entire process we did not have a chance to see lawyers. Later on, lawyers from the Progressive Lawyers Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği), who were there completely by chance, helped us. We were escorted by a large group of gendarmerie to a court at the Gaziosmanpaşa Courthouse. We faced a judge towards the morning and I was released on judicial control. They released us, but my arrest continued in another way. I went to my hometown Batman, but it was like I was in prison. The only advantage was that I was outside, at my home, but I did not have any other advantages. Because I had to go to the police station every other day to give my signature. By the way, I should also add that when I was released from custody, I went back to the camp and found out that I was dismissed without compensation. I filed a reinstatement lawsuit against IGA, IGA’s subcontractor EHA, and EHA’s subcontractor Akar. I filed it against three companies. IGA said “we’re a consortium of five companies, so you have to file individual lawsuits against all five of us.” There were extra expenses but we filed lawsuits against all five of them, and they are still ongoing. It is not true that the protest was provocative. The protest started while people were waiting in line for the busses. You’re waiting in the rain and have 300 people in front of you. 4 busses are to leave until it is your turn. A bus departs every ten minutes and you are panicking about making it to work on time. Eventually workers INTERVIEW SUMMARIES 93