114 Workers Killed on the Job in May

According to a report released by Worker Health and Work Security Assembly, at least 114 workers were killed from work-related injuries in May. 

Underscoring that workplace mortalities on seasonal agriculture and construction sectors are on the rise due to summer start, the report cited 27 casualties in each aforementioned sector. 

The distribution of most workplace mortalities in April according to cities listed as follows: Adıyaman (13), Istanbul (8), Hatay (8), Diyarbakır (6), Manisa (6), Rize (6) and Şırnak (6). 

Seasonal agriculture continue taking lives 

“On May 29 the driver of minibus transporting seasonal workers on their way back home lost control and fell of cliff with consecutive spins in the southeastern province of Adıyaman - causing the death of Remziye Yılmaz, Songül Yılmaz, Remziye Acar, Zahide Atik, Salime Uluer, Zeynep Ünsal, Medine Turan, Fatma Süt, Yıldız Özelçi and Yusuf Yılmaz,” the report said. 

“Seasonal agriculture workers provide the need for cheap agriculture labor. The distribution of Kurdish people among these workers reached to a considerable level. The distribution of seasonal working (between May and October mostly) according to region, city and products listed as follows: Urfa and Adana provinces (cotton), Mediterranean and Aegean Regions (fresh vegetables, grapes, olives, tobacco), Marmara Region (fresh vegetables and fruits, hazelnut), Black Sea Region (hazelnut, tea leaves, tobacco), Central Anatolia Region (Fruit picking). 

“Those are the same workers who are transported in minivans or tractors, get poisoned from pasticines or bad food, suffer from health problems due to bad accommodation issues and get deprived from access to education.”  

The names of deceased workers in May

Narin Onay, Fatma Süt, Medine Turan, Remziye Acar, Remziye Yılmaz, Zahide Atik, Zeynep Ünsal, Saime Uluer, Yusuf Yılmaz, Yıldız Özelçi, Songül Yılmaz, Zehra Çakır, Feyzullah Demirel, M.S., Yılmaz Saçan, Şevket Ali Uzun, Hatam Akhshıj, Osman Ahadzoubın, Mohammad Zadkanı, Hossem Padar, Mustafa Haydemir, Kazım Akçadağ, Halis Ataman, Erkan Mengen, Yusuf Yıldıko, Soner Karatut, Mesut Eriş, Erhan Erdoğan, Bayram Yıldız, Ragıp Çankaya, İsmet Gemici, Gürgin Özen, Yusuf F., Cüneyt Yavuz, Safiye Çağlaş, İbrahim Deniz, Suat Ersoy, Veli Kahveci, Berivan Sönmez, Halil Köymen, Hayri Şahin, Erdal ., Erkan Güngörür, Bahri Yıldız, Sevtap Elmas, Hasan Ortaç, Halime Kadıkmak, İhsan Bitkin, Ahmet Çetin, Mustafa Mumcu, Sadi Baş, Sabri Sarıksız, Kasım Özcan, Mustafa Sarkın, Abdullah Sertel, Ferit Güler, Emre Değirmencioğlu, Yakup Acar, Hâkim Gündüz, Osman Çakal, Ali Kavalcı, Olgar Önen, Emin T., Kenan Kütük, Sinan Baran, Hıdır Köse, Uğur Bozar, Sabri Aktan, Ahmet Kahraman, Hasan Kafacı, Engin Öztürk, Selçuk Yıldırımer, Hüseyin Şahbaz, Mikail Çivitaş, Ümmet Eren, Ramazan Şinasi, Yusuf Demir, Menaf Kaşbaş, Hacı Savcı, Ahmet Adlığ, Aslan Gök, Âdem Karasu, Recep Karaoğlan, Kasım Tarhan, Enes Erdoğan, Şefik Elgören, Emrah Kurt, Yakup Özdemir, Süha Can, Mehmet Sonluğ, Şehmuz Ergün, Recep Platin, Ali Yakar, Nihal Şimşek, Adil Sünger, Ali Gök, Nihat Dağ, Sıtkı Abacı, Hacer Şancı, Süleyman Topgül, Murat Öztürk, Mehmet Kaya, Turan Bülbül, Recep Demirgil, Fahri Mert, Zekeriya Akbaş, Yonca Akkuş, Osman Kusur, Kaddafi Gülmez, Halil Baği, Bilal Çınar and 3 other workers whose names were not retrieved. (NV/BM)