Labor News from Turkey 07/23/94

[mbayram at igc.apc.org]

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                             LABOR NEWS FROM TURKEY
                                  July 23 1994
 
    Compiled from a collection of newspapers, magazines and news reports.
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CALL FOR ACTION BY TURK-IS (Confederation of Labor Unions)
 
Frustrated with the governments indifference to workers demands, TURK-IS
(Confederation of Labor Unions) has called for a day of action on July 20,
1994.
 
Other Labor confederations have joined the action.  DISK (Confederation of
Revolutionary Workers Unions), HAK-IS, The Platform of Civil Servants
Union and many democratic mass organizations have declared their support
and have pledged to join on July 20th to demonstrate against the massive
layoffs, privatization, breaking of unions and the rise in the cost of
living.
 
A leaflet prepared by The Platform of Workers and Civil Servants called
for all the people to resist against the attacks of the capital.  In the
leaflet it was stated that, 'Capital is attacking the people and the
laborers with all its forces, using every tool and weapon under its power
and using the political power.' The leaflet also said that the problems
will only be solved by the workers getting collective bargaining with the
right to strike, right to involve in political activities and unity for
their legal right to struggle.
 
Turk-Is is proposing an action that does not call for workers to leave the
work places on July 20th.  Instead, the confederation is asking the
workers to stay at work and read the Turk-Is declaration.  The leaflet
distributed yesterday responds to this request but, ' Nobody hears about
the action if we stay at our work places. You cannot form a public
opinion this way.  Hang on to your rights for your job, your bread, your
rights, your freedom, your honor, family, class, and your country. Get out
to the fields.  Show your legal and democratic power.  Fill the streets!'
 
The leaflet also draws attention to the war being waged against the Kurds
in the East, 'According to the Prime Minister, in 1994 alone there will be
more than 400 trillion liras spent on the ongoing war.  This money goes to
the pockets of the rich who manufacture arms and weapons.  We are the
ones paying this money, our children are paying this money.' A day before
the action takes place 55,000 leaflets describing 'Why General Action'
have been read at lunch time to the workers by their shop stewards.
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GOVERNMENT CAN NOT ANNOUNCE PAY RAISES TO CIVIL SERVANTS.
 
Last week as they were going to get their paychecks, some civil servants
learned that they had been retired!  These workers denounced this unusual
action by demonstrating in Ankara, the Capital.
 
Also, the government has forced 34,000 civil servant to retire and stopped
paying their wages by privatizing the public works which employed them.
Workers have announced that they will appeal the decision.  420 workers
forced to retire from ETIBANK, a state owned bank protested the decision
and staged a demonstration.
A long waited decision of pay raises to the civil servants have been
postponed by the Deputy Prime Minister Murat Karayalcin.  He had promised
to announce the raises today.  A general work stoppage action on July 20th
seems to have caused the Deputy Prime Minister to stall the announcement.
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MUNICIPALITIES KEEP LAYING OFF WORKERS.
 
The municipality of Tarsus, where the fascist National Action Party (MHP)
has won the control after the March 27 local elections, has laid off 450
workers since.  On July 14 more than 100 workers who gathered in front of
the mayors office demonstrated the continuing lay offs at the municipality.
Murtaza Acar, the president of 6th region of Genel-Is (Union of
Municipality Workers) has said that, 'after the local elections, the
workers are being collectively laid off from municipalities.  We need to
resist the attack on the working class.'
When the workers wanted to march towards their union while shouting
slogans and clapping, the police stopped them.  The workers were able to
gather again in front of the union building and started another
demonstration there.  After several speeches the workers dispersed.
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D.A. WILL NOT PROSECUTE THE POLICE.
 
Enver Tagac was murdered on July 11th, 1993 by the police for being a
suspect in the robbery of a beer plant.  His parents had asked the DA to
start an investigation on the police who murdered their son last year, but
DA's office has not responded to this request.  Enver Tagac's family has
stated that,' It raises suspicions with us to see no case being opened
after a year has passed since the murder.  The autopsy report clearly
demonstrates that the killing was a murder.  We want the DA to investigate
everything in full detail.'
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'FILL THE STREETS, DEFEND YOUR RIGHTS!', SAYS PLATFORM OF WORKERS AND
CIVIL SERVANTS UNIONS.
 
Contrasting the TURK-IS's (Confederation of Labor Unions) call to 1 day of
'general action' against the governments practices, the Platform of
Workers and Civil Servants have called to carry the action onto the
streets.  The call said, "We will walk no matter what.  All laborers;
defend your rights, fill the streets".
 
Few hours before the general action, at midnight, the civil servants were
threatened by an announcement from the government.  The announcement said
that it was illegal for any civil servant to participate in the
demonstrations.  It was also said that "Participation to this action will
be prevented by the managers of each plant".
 
The action will be carried out by all sections of the working class.
Today workers, civil servants, lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers,
university instructors and all laborers will stop work.
 
A day earlier, the spokesman for the Ankara Civil Servants Unions, Alper
Ozturk was arrested from his home without any charges.  He is also the
secretary of Ankara Branch of EGIT-SEN (Union of Educational Workers).
The president of Ankara Branch of EGIT -SEN, Kemal Unal said the purpose
of the arrest was to threaten the workers from participating in the July
20 general action.  He also stated that they were worried about the life
of Alper Ozturk and demanded his release immediately.
 
Political prisoners in the Ankara prison have declared their solidarity
with the action.
 
HADEP (Peoples Democracy Party) announced their support for the action on
July 20. President of Istanbul Branch Kemal Parlak reminded that the
organized struggle of the workers of Turkey has been dissolved.  Parlak
said, "As a result of the war in East and Southeast provinces the
economic and political practices have come to the steps of a tremendous
bankruptcy.  The point we are in is a very meaningful action of the
laborers and the people on July 20 against this economic exploitation.  We
see this as a democratic action against the political and economic
oppression policies of the government and the ruling powers."
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FIRST STEP IS TAKEN, RESISTANCE WILL CONTINUE.
Despite TURK-IS's call to action in the work places and despite governments
threats, workers in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir have stopped work and
demonstrated outside. Blue and white collar workers marched together.  City
busses, ferry boats, trains and hospitals did not work.  Shopkeepers in
Umraniye and Gulsuyu district of Istanbul closed their shops for support. 
Police attacked the marching people.
 
Slogans protesting the Governments actions were shouted and demonstrators
demanded an end to the dirty war in the east which has impoverished all
the working class.  Emphasis was given to the brotherhood of all peoples.
 
Tens of thousands of workers left their work in Diyarbakir, Antep, Urfa
and Mardin despite the threats of the Regional Governor.  Cement factory
workers in Ergani who wanted to march were prevented by the government
forces by using tanks.
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URFA BRANCH OF HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION: 'TEN PEOPLE DIE EVERY DAY'
 
President of the Urfa Branch of the Human Rights Association called
attention to the escalation in the violation of human rights and said as a
result of murders by unknown murderers, disappearances under detention,
evacuation and burning down of the villages results in the death of ten
people every day.
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SWISS PRESS UP IN ARMS OVER DETENTION OF TV CREW.
 
Swiss press is shocked at the news that two Swiss TV reporters who were
reporting on the state of tourism and the migrant families in Antalya were
detained by the Turkish security forces.  It was said that the Turkish
action of arresting and confiscating all documents of the TV reporters
meant that the state had a lot to conceal from the press.
 
Werner Van Gent, the reporter for Neu Zurcher Zeitung reported the
following: "If Turkey claims to be an ideal tourism country, then it
should know what is best for them.  Turkey should not try to find the
reasons of attack on its tourism elsewhere.  For us, the actions of the
state to suppress the press is as much unacceptable as the attacks on the
tourists. "We are protesting the actions against our reporters.  In
Antalya, a HADEP official is claiming that the bombings against the
tourists are not done by PKK.  Our reporters were in Antalya to
investigate this and other similar issues."
 
On the other hand, 37 people who have talked with the Swiss TV reporters
have been detained by the political police and one person has been
arrested.  Those who were released said they were assaulted and tortured
all day long under detention.
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AUTHOR-PUBLISHER RECEP MARASLI IS ARRESTED.
 
Author-Publisher Recep Marasli was arrested yesterday by the State
Security Court after his 14 day detention. Ergul Kiyak and Yuksel
Bekiroglu who were detained at the same time with the author have also
been arrested while the other 9 of the 13 detained were released.  Nuran
Camli also detained at the same time with the author could not make it to
the courtroom from the hospital where she is being treated from her
torture wounds.  Recep Marasli had participated in a TV discussion earlier
and was charged with 'separation propaganda' from what he said during the
show.  He was also charged for being the general secretary of PKK
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SECRETARY OF STATE AKTUNA: 'WE COULD HAVE NOT GIVEN ANY RAISES'
 
The pay raises which is expected to be 120,000 TL ($4.00 a month) was not
announced again by the government.  Question on the raises upset the
Secretary of State and he threatened,'We could have not given any raises
at all!'.  While the question of raises are being discussed, the state has
purchased 13 Dragon tanks which amounted to 5 times the raise amount of
all workers would have gotten in a month.  These tanks will be used
against the Kurds in the east and they cost around 12 billion TL.  Also,
140 panzer tanks Turkey purchased earlier cost 1 trillion 680 million TL.
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NO PAY TO 25,000 WORKERS.
 
25,000 workers have not received their paychecks for a month in Sumer
Holding, a public factory.  The total amount owed to the workers is 220
billion TL. ($7.3 million) in back pays.
 
TEKSIF (Textile Union Workers) president Sevket Yilmaz has said that the
negotiations with the Secretary of State Necmettin Cevheri and
Privatization Administration Management have not given any results.  He
said that the plant has had problems in the las t three months but at
least they were paid.  But Sumer Holding has held the paychecks in the
last month.  Yilmaz continued, 'The workers are forced to take their
vacations.  According to the labor agreement, the pay should be given in
advance.  Those who go on vacation return back and there is still no pay.
There is no cotton, no thread, no dye, no material and the factories are
working at 30-40% capacity.  This is because Sumerbank has no owner!'
(Sumerbank is a publicly owned bank and clothes/shoes production plant
for the people)
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CHIEF EDITOR OF DAILY OZGUR ULKE ARRESTED
 
Halil Dalkilic, the Chief editor of Ozgur Ulke, has been arrested by the
State Security Court.  He is charged with 'publishing material containing
criminal elements'.  The last 24 days of Ozgur Ulke was also banned and
confiscated by the State.
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RAPE WHILE UNDER ARREST
 
Leyla Karaluk who is under arrest was raped by an officer and the driver
of the military vehicle while transporting her from the court back to the
prison.  District Attorney has taken the deposition of the officer Ayhan
Dagtas and the driver Adem Demirta s but has released them and refuses to
take further action.  The officer Ayhan Dagtas also tried to take Karaluk
to hospitals in Urfa and Antep and tried to get a report that she was not
a virgin before the assault.  Leyla Karaluk told the incident in a l etter
she wrote as, 'Between Urfa and Siverek the prison vehicle stopped.
Officer Ayhan Dagtas send the gendarme away. Later he and the driver raped
me.
 
The officer threatened Karaluk with death if she ever told anybody but she
reported the incident to the Prison Manager Musa Tirpan.  'We were called
to the D.A.'s office and we gave depositions but the two perverts were let
go even without an investigation.' Karaluk said.
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23 WORKERS FIRED FOR PARTICIPATING IN A PRESS RELEASE
 
23 Workers of ASKI (Ankara Water and Sewage Works) have been fired from
their jobs because they participated in a press release to protest the
forced relocation of 30 workers earlier in the month.  The workers were
charged with demonstrating and performing an illegal action in front of
the ASKI building, leaving a black protest wreathe at the doorsteps of the
management, and disrupting the flow of work and work peace.  These workers
were summoned to the management earlier and fired after the meeting.
 
9 other workers who participated in the press release meeting in front of
the General Management of ASKI at lunch time were also summoned to the
management.
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WORKERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE JULY 20 ACTION ARE BEING FILED.
 
Government has asked all management to file a list of all the workers who
participated in the July 20 action.  The management has started filing the
workers especially in the finance, postal, municipality and energy sectors
immediately and has started an investigation.  Due to the action taken on
July 20 the financial office had not processed any payments and had lost
billions of TL expected to be received that day.
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