Source: Petrol-İş Source: Kristal-İş Preventions of the right to strike did not only come in the form of strike postponements. There was also an expansion of suspension of right to strike] - Strike is the scope of strike that could be postponed (de facto bans). a right, it cannot be The emergency decree [KHK] No. 678 added the following to prevented! Article 63 of Law No. 6356 on Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining: “A lawful strike or lockout that has been agreed upon or started may be suspended by the Council of Ministers for 60 days if it threatens public health, national security, urban public transportation services of the metropolitan municipalities, or economic or financial stability in banking services.” As a result, the strike ban on urban transportation and banking services, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2014, was reintroduced indirectly by statutory decree No. 678. Moreover, the expression “threat to financial stability” was added to the legislation, opening the way to suspend strikes for economic reasons. Sendikası - [2017 - BMİS protest on Decisions to suspend strikes during the State of Emergency were not based on the framework of State of Emergency legislation; they were instead based on the provisions of Law No. 6356. Despite this, President Erdoğan underlined that strike suspensions were part of the State of Emergency during a meeting with employers’ unions. During his speech on July 12, 2017 at a meeting organised by YASED (International Investors Association), which includes Turkey representatives of leading companies such as Siemens, Dow, Unilever and Sicpa in its Executive Board, President Erdoğan said: “We use the State of Emergency so that our business world works better. Now we intervene immediately in places where there is a on the postponement of strike] threat of strike through to the State of Emergency. We say, ‘No, you can’t go on strike here, because you cannot disturb business life. That’s why we use the State of Emergency [applause].”20 Sendikası - [2018 - Petrol - İş protest Aftermath of the State of Emergency Despite its official ending in July 2018, the effects of the State of Emergency have continued, through legislation established by statutory decrees and excessive authority given to provincial and district governors. There have been many examples of a brutal and unrelenting attitude towards workers’ protests even after the end of the State of Emergency. Some of these are listed below: On November 6, 2018, 7 workers were dismissed from the TARİŞ factory located in Çiğli Organised Industry Zone, due to their membership to the DİSK/Gıda İş Union. Other workers started a protest, demanding their colleagues to be reemployed. As a result, the police took 65 workers into custody. Of these 65 workers, 33 were released in the morning and the rest in the following hours. On November 22, 2018 in Kızılay, Ankara, a group of construction workers, who were employed at General Directorate for Housing (TOKİ), started a protest due to their wages not being paid for two years. Of those protesting workers— 20 https://www.evrensel.net/haber/326078/erdogandan-itiraf-ohalle-grevlere-musaade-etmiyoruz 32 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 T H E P I C T U R E O F L A B O U R R I G H T S V I O L AT I O N S I N T U R K E Y 33