Governor Turns Down Union Demands for May Day in Taksim Square

Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler has argued that Taksim Square is not suitable for an event with mass participation. He has said that trade union representatives will be allowed to go the square in order to lay down wreaths in the memory of 36 workers killed there in 1977 and that they will be allowed to make a press statement.

However, he has refused permission for mass gatherings in the square on Labour Day. In a press briefing yesterday (29 April), he said:

“Some of our trade unions have made intense demands for Taksim Square. But I said this before: The spaces for mass rallies in Istanbul have been specified, and Taksim is not among them. We were not able to give the trade unions a positive answer.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also describe the demands for a gathering in Taksim as unreasonable, saying that it was no longer a place suitable for mass rallies.

Meanwhile, the DİSK and KESK trade union confederations announced yesterday that they would go to Taksim Square on 1 May in order to commemorate the “Bloody 1 May” in 1977.

DİSK president Süleyman Çelebi and KESK president Sami Evren gathered with others at the 1 May Memorial at the Kazancı Slope in Taksim where many of the 36 who died in 1977 lost their lives.

The trade unionists stuck a plaque with the names of the 36 onto the memorial and read out the names. Red carnations were left at the memorial. (BÇ/AG)