■ PETKİM, based in Izmir/Aliağa, is the only petrochemical plant in Turkey
where Petrol-İş Union has members. On June 19, 2017, police intervened
when workers started a protest in response to disagreements with the
collective bargaining process. Union leaders, the branch’s president and
representatives, were all beaten and taken into custody.
■ In the first days of September 2017, shoe workers, who work in different
manufacturing workshops in nine cities, held demonstrations to protest
working without social security benefits, working hours that exceed 12 hours,
and low wages. However, the police did not allow them to call other workers
due to the State of Emergency. The workers continued their protest anyway.
One of the most important highlights of the demonstration in Adana was that
it brought Syrian workers together with workers from Turkey.
■ When workers were dismissed from the Şişecam Kırklareli Glass Plant
on October 21, 2017, they started a march to the headquarter in Istanbul.
The march was banned by the Governorate of Tekirdağ due to the State of
Emergency.
■ On October, 21, 2017, members of the KESK Platform of Branches in
Ankara gathered on Sakarya Street to make a press statement and organise
a sit-in against the State of Emergency and emergency decrees. Security
forces told them to make the statement in front of the union’s office because
the Governorate of Ankara banned press statements on the streets. While
members were walking to the union’s office, they opened their banners, which
resulted in the police using pepper spray and plastic bullets to disperse the
platform members.
■ On December 26, 2017, police dispersed a march from Izmit to Ankara by 88
Posco Assan factory workers who had been dismissed because they became
members of the union BMIS. Thirty workers and union executives, including
the BMIS President Adnan Serdaroğlu, were beaten and taken into custody.
Source: Uncertain -
so. Just in 2017, security forces dispersed 154 protests
[2017- Shoemakers in
Adana] - We want the
in Ankara. Most of these demonstrations, which took
equivalent of our labor
place on Yüksel Street, where related to demands to be
back, not charity!
reemployed by workers dismissed from the public sector.18
Led by academician Nuriye Gülmen, who was expelled
from her post with a statutory decree, and attended by others who were also
expelled by statutory decrees, the “I want my job back” (İşimi geri istiyorum)
protest resulted in protestors being taken into custody on a daily basis. The
protest completed its 1000th day at the beginning of August 2019, and continues
in 2020 with intervals.
Right to Strike under the State of Emergency19
During the State of Emergency, the right to strike was one of the most widely
violated rights. From 2002 until the beginning of the State of Emergency the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) government suspended a total of only
18 Eşit Haklar İzleme Derneği “Toplantı ve Gösteri Hakkı İzleme Raporu-2017” [Right to Freedom of Assembly and Association
Security forces largely prevented workers from asking for their rights in
public spaces. Especially in the capital city Ankara, where bans have been
continuous, it has become nearly impossible for labour organisations to
voice their demands. When they have, they have paid a heavy price for doing
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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
Monitoring Report-2017” [https://www.esithaklar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Toplanti_Gosteri_Hakki_2017.pdf] (Accessed on 26.08.2019).
19 This section is mostly based on information provided in this report: DİSK-Ar titled “The State of Emergency One Year On:
Emergency Rule Hurts Workers” (July 20, 2017) [http://disk.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/State-of-Emergency.doc]
(Accessed on 26.08.2019)
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
29