Workers Stage Protest at 3rd Airport, Gendarmerie Intervene In

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Workers have stopped working due to bad working conditions and occupational homicides at the 3rd Airport whose construction continues in İstanbul. As the work stoppage turned into a collective movement, gendarmerie intervened in the workers in the morning hours.

Attacking the workers with pepper gas, the gendarmerie teams then decided to meet with the worker representatives. Construction Work Union representatives also wanted to attend the meeting.

Jandarma gazla müdahele ediyor pic.twitter.com/DYFx3nqL15

— İnşaat-İş Sendikası (@insaatsendika) 14 Eylül 2018

Gendarmerie threatened

The gendarmerie reportedly threatened the union members and didn’t let them attend the meeting.

Speaking to bianet, Construction Work Union Responsible for Organization Deniz Gider said that their troubles were not specific to today and that the ongoing troubles which have been continuing since the construction of the 3rd Airport began came to a boil.

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— İnşaat-İş Sendikası (@insaatsendika) 14 Eylül 2018

Gider told bianet:

“The incidents that started at 7 a.m. still continue. Worker representatives, gendarmerie and sub-governor are having a meeting inside”.

“Occupational homicides are increasing”

“There are rumors that 100 people died since the beginning of construction. We are losing two of our friends every day. Occupational homicides are increasing and no precaution is taken.

“When an accident takes place here, precaution is taken in the area because when someone dies, a prosecutor comes and an investigation is launched. And what they do is to make it look as precautions have been taken. They make it look like the accident is not their fault but worker’s”.

“We are working under unsecure conditions”

“There are 40 thousand workers and three camps here. The camp where the incidents are taking place is known as Akpınar compound. A friend of ours dies but we don’t know what happened, how it happened.

“We all are working under unsecure conditions. We are having shelter issues, having problems with food, shuttles. All sorts of problems that a worker can experience are present here.

“Even the occupational homicides are very normal here. It doesn’t matter who and how one dies. We have no value in the eyes of the officials”. (HA/TK)