‘52 Deadly Occupational Accidents Occur in Construction of 3rd İstanbul Airport’

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The Presidency Communication Center (CİMER) has answered the questions of Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Ali Şeker regarding the occupational homicides that have taken place in the construction of the 3rd Airport in İstanbul over the last five years.

In the answer given by the Arnavutköy Social Security Center, it has been announced that between 2013 and 2018, 52 deadly occupational accidents have occured in the construction of th airport, which means that at least 52 workers have lost their lives in the construction over the last five years.

In the answer given by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services, it has been stated that 22 inspections have been conducted in the construction of the airport in the indicated five-year period. While two of these inspections were planned in advance, three of them were carried out after occupational homicides and 17 of them upon complaints and notices.

As a result of these inspections, it has been recommended that 74 contractor companies pay 2 billion 733 million 379 dollars as administrative fines.

Minister Turhan previously said 30 workers had died

In a statement released by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security on February 13, 2018, it was announced that 27 workers lost their lives in the construction of the 3rd İstanbul Airport.

On November 6, 2018, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Cahit Turhan made another statement and said that 30 workers had died at the construction site of the airport.

As for the figures shared by the Laborers' Health and Occupational Safety (İSİG) Assembly, they have shown that 38 confirmed occupational homicides took place in the construction in three years.

According to the October report of the İSİG Assembly, at least 177 workers, 43 of whom were in the construction sector, lost their lives in occupational homicides in October 2018. In the first ten months of this year, at least 1,640 workers have lost their lives across Turkey.

CLICK - At Least 177 Workers Lost Their Lives in October

27 workers have still been behind bars

On September 14, 2018, workers of the 3rd İstanbul Airport staged a protest against their bad working conditions and occupational homicides.

At the same night, the dormitories of the workers were raided by security forces and 401 workers were taken into custody.

A group of protestors who gathered in Kadıköy, İstanbul in solidarity with the workers upon the call of the Construction Workers Union (İnşaat-İş) and Progressive Construction Workers Union (Dev-Yapı-İş) were also attacked by the police. 27 workers of the 3rd İstanbul Airport have still been arrested. (TP/SD)