6th Year of Occupational Homicide in Soma Mine: ‘Our Struggle will Continue’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) / Archive

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Today marks the sixth anniversary of Soma Massacre. On May 13, 2014, 301 miners lost their lives in an occupational homicide in Soma, Manisa.

The Soma 301 Miners' Social Aid Association has shared the written statement for the press that they cannot make due to coronavirus outbreak.

In the judicial process following the occupational homicide in Soma, the Akhisar Heavy Penal Court ruled that Soma Coal Enterprises Inc. General Director Ramazan Doğru, mining engineer and Deputy Operations Manager İsmail Adalı, Operations Manager Akın Çelik and mining engineer Ertan Ersoy should be handed prison terms from 15 years to 22 years, 6 months.

While the court gave prison sentences for nine people, thirty-seven defendants, including Alp Gürkan, the owner of the company, were acquitted.

Examining the appeal against the verdict, the 14th Penal Chamber of the İzmir Regional Court of Justice upheld the prison sentences of five arrested defendants on April 19, 2019. Can Gürkan was released from prison on the same day. The case is at the Court of Cassation.

In its statement for the press, the Soma 301 Miners' Social Aid Association has underlined that the prison sentence given to Can Gürkan by the court means that he will serve 6 days behind bars for each deceased miner. "Considering even 6 days too much, you have reversed the judgement. You have freed the murderers of our children," the Association has said.

'We are as grieved as the first day'

The Association has briefly stated the following:

"They limit the lives of our children with 6 days. They put 6 days on the lives of 301 sons. We could not even know the last word of our children. We could not even sleep a wink for 6 days when they had fever as children.

"We could not sleep with excitement for six days before they started school. Now, you have put 6 days on the ones who caused our children to be taken away from us. Do you know that 6 years have passed since 2014? We are still how we were on the first day, we are still as grieved as the first day.

'You kicked us'

"You kicked us, then you made [him] apologize just for the sake of votes in the elections. Was this empty apology supposed to free us from the pain of that kick in our hearts? You kicked us in our hearts everyday, everyday...

"You kicked us with the verdicts that you give at court halls. You kicked us with pepper gas while were were trying to bring the soil of our sons in front of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). You kicked us by turning a blind eye to the violence inflicted on our attorneys.

"You kicked us by having our attorneys arrested. You kicked us by changing the judge when the court board was about to deliver its verdict. More importantly, you kicked yourselves more than us. You kicked you honor.

"In such an incident that troubled public conscience to such an extent, you left your honor in the corridors of that court. What matters was not to live, but to live with honor; but, you forgot it.

"We wished that it had been limited to this. But you, having no limits when it comes to kicking and massacring, considered even 6 days too much under the name of 'law on criminal enforcement' and reversed this judgement. You have freed the murderers of our children...

'We struggle to prevent new Somas'

"Now we ask you: Which apology of yours can extinguish the fire in our hearts? What cover can cover the shame to be engraved on your face? I mean, have you ever felt ashamed? Have you ever felt our pain? Have you ever felt bad when you look your own children in the face? When you see your grandchildren able to hug their fathers, have you known that there are also children somewhere who cannot hug their fathers?

"We lost our sons, brothers, husbands, fathers... But we wage our struggle so that new Somas will not occur. We have lost hundreds of workers after Soma. We stood by the families of all of them. Our sorrow was common, so was what we had to say: 'Let us not lose one more son or daughter.'

"The more distance we have covered to keep alive and protect them, the more collapsed we have been in the face of other news. We will continue our struggle for our children no matter what. We will continue keeping our honor alive. We will keep on seeking justice for everyone in this country." (TP/SD)