FIM

Global Unions, col­lec­tive­ly rep­re­sent­ing over 200 mil­lion union mem­bers, includ­ing in Turkey, stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with the peo­ple of Turkey.

Our organ­i­sa­tions wish to reit­er­ate their seri­ous con­cern at the repeat­ed use of bru­tal and exces­sive mea­sures includ­ing rub­ber bul­lets, tear gas and water can­non by gov­ern­ment secu­ri­ty forces against peo­ple peace­ful­ly exer­cis­ing their rights.

Global Unions and their mem­bers believe that the right to peace­ful demon­stra­tion and free­dom of assem­bly are basic ele­ments of gen­uine democ­ra­cy. However, instead of respect­ing that right, the Erdoğan Government appears to engage in repres­sion as a reg­u­lar prac­tice. For exam­ple, still fresh in our minds are the 2013 May Day cel­e­bra­tions, which turned to blood­shed after attacks on demon­stra­tors by the secu­ri­ty forces. 

We are dou­bly con­cerned that since the 2011 elec­tions, fun­da­men­tal trade union rights have been denied both legal­ly and ille­gal­ly, and that there has been a marked increase in such prac­tices. Laws have been adopt­ed that estab­lish greater bar­ri­ers to trade union recog­ni­tion and dis­cour­age rather than encour­age the exer­cise of trade union rights. There has been inac­tion against employ­ers who deny work­ers’ fun­da­men­tal rights, abus­es have per­sist­ed in the judi­cia­ry sys­tem, strikes that meet the cri­te­ria for being legal have been pre­vent­ed, and vio­lent attacks have been car­ried out on trade union­ists. These devel­op­ments have been cou­pled with lim­its on free­dom of assem­bly and expres­sion that con­sti­tute seri­ous attacks on fun­da­men­tal human rights and democracy.

The Global Unions unre­served­ly sup­port the inter­na­tion­al sol­i­dar­i­ty actions that start on 21 – 22 June and urgent­ly call on the gov­ern­ment of Turkey to address the following:
• End vio­lence and repres­sion against peace­ful protests and to address the demands made by the protestors;
• Ensure that those respon­si­ble for the thou­sands of injured peo­ple and the deaths of Mehmet Ayvalıtaş, Abdullah Cömert, Ethem Sarısülük and Mustafa Sarı are held account­able for their actions, includ­ing through removal from their posts and pros­e­cu­tion before the law;
• Guarantee the right to free­dom of assem­bly in all pub­lic areas, includ­ing Taksim square;
• Ensure that trade union­ists and oth­er work­ers who exer­cise their right to free­dom of assem­bly are not dismissed;
• Immediately release cit­i­zens who have par­tic­i­pat­ed in peace­ful protests and drop all charges against them;
• Immediately release KESK trade union­ists, detained jour­nal­ists and media work­ers and all oth­ers unjust­ly held for legit­i­mate acts of protests and opposition;
• Remove all the legal and prac­ti­cal bar­ri­ers against the exer­cise of trade union rights and the right to strike;
• Ensure that injured pro­tes­tors have access to ade­quate health care; 
• Put an imme­di­ate and to all threats made against jour­nal­ists, per­form­ers and media work­ers and cit­i­zens who have law­ful­ly exer­cised their right to protest, and
• End pro­hi­bi­tions and restric­tions on the use of social media.

Turkey and its peo­ple deserve much bet­ter. They deserve democ­ra­cy and the pro­tec­tion of all their human rights, includ­ing trade union rights. It is urgent that the Turkish gov­ern­ment moves in that direc­tion in the cru­cial days and weeks ahead.