16 May, 2013On May Day peaceful demonstration of workers on Taksim Square of Istanbul was violently broke up by the police, IndustriALL demands proper investigation of the case.
IndustriALL sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan demanding the urgent and proper investigation into the facts of inacceptable and unjustifiable violence against peaceful demonstrations during the recent celebration of May Day 2013.
The new attack on freedoms of expression when a peaceful celebration of May Day has been transformed on the orders of the government into a bloodshed with police and security forces attacking the demonstrators with tear gas resulting in more than 200 injuries become another example of the irresponsible wrong doing of the decision making bodies of the country.
40,000 riot police forces were deployed in the city, many were specially brought from remote parts of the country. Main roads and streets were cordoned off by government barriers with tanks, armored trucks and police literally blocking every possibility of free circulation to the symbol of freedom Taksim Square in the city with the only aim to stop workers from celebrating their Day. Shocking and shameful for a country calling itself a democracy.
The facts of a recently increasing pressure on Turkish workers and their freedoms become increasingly alarming for international community. IndustriALL receives increasing number of reports where workers have to fight for their rights that should be by default granted by the Turkish Government.
In fact less than a year ago in August 2012 IndustriALL had to lodge a formal complaint against the government of Turkey for violation of the ILO Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, 1949 (No. 98) over de facto suspension of the Right of Collective Bargaining in the country. Since the beginning of 2012 workers by administrative measures are precluded from their right of bargain collectively. IndustriALL is committed to work closely with the affiliates in Turkey and across the globe to put pressure on the authorities of Turkey and force them to comply with the international obligations of the country.