Kurdish seasonal workers face mob attacks in northern Turkey
Kurdish seasonal agricultural workers who migrated from Mardin to Düzce's Cumayeri and Gümüşova districts to work said a group, including one person with a knife, gathered in front of their home and demanded they leave the region.
Additionally, more than 70 workers and their families who migrated from Şırnak's Cizre and Silopi districts to Bektaşlı Village connected to Zonguldak's Alaplı district to pick hazelnuts faced two attacks over two days.
He threatened the workers with a knife in Düzce
According to information sent by Düzce workers to Mezopotamya Agency, the attack started in the evening hours while they were sitting in the garden of their house.
Düzce’nin Cumayeri ve Gümüşova ilçelerinde çalışmak için Mêrdîn’den bölgeye giden Kürt işçiler, bir grubun ırkçı saldırısına uğradı.https://t.co/2CeLqA3Tqp pic.twitter.com/PqDn5JvB2v
— Mezopotamya Ajansı (@mezopotamyatrk3) August 23, 2026
The workers said a group came to where they were staying and one of them pulled out a knife, cursing the workers and telling them to leave the region. The workers subsequently called the police who arrived on the scene and took the assailant away. The workers said they were worried about their safety following the attack and are considering leaving the region.
The Düzce Governorship announced that the suspect, named M.A., had seven separate criminal records. M.A., who was referred to the courthouse, was later arrested by the court.
In Zonguldak, more than 70 workers and their families were attacked twice
More than 70 seasonal hazelnut workers and their families who arrived in the Bektaşlı Village, (connected to Zonguldak's Alaplı district) from Şırnak's Cizre and Silopi districts, faced multiple attacks over two days.
According to reports, the incident began when children threw melon and watermelon waste into a water source. Following an argument, the area where the workers were staying was stoned and later vehicles carrying workers leaving the village were also subject to stoning attacks. Gendarmerie law enforcement could not ensure the safety of the workers.
Social media footage depicted a group attacking the workers, including children sitting in the bed of the pickup truck, with sticks and stones.
Zonguldak’a çalışmaya gelen Kürt işçilere ırkçı saldırı.
— Toplumsal Muhalefet (@ToplumsalMht124) August 23, 2026
Şırnak’ın Cizre ve Silopi ilçelerinden Zonguldak’a çalışmaya gelen mevsimlik tarım işçileri ve aileleri, taşlı ve sopalı saldırıya uğradı. pic.twitter.com/uDdrJQi5Ft
In the footage, allegedly from right before the incident, the workers are told “Hungry dogs, is there no job in your hometown?” There is no independent verification on the source of the footage’s connection to the attack.
Four detainees were released
The Karadeniz Ereğli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the incident. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek noted that the investigation is being carried out for the purpose of illuminating all aspects of the incident.
Gürlek stated the following:
"It is of importance that an isolated incident that took place is not drawn into different meanings and made the subject of generalizations that will damage our social peace, and that the public relies only on verified information shared by competent authorities.
The protection of the peace, safety, and rights of each of our citizens, including our seasonal agricultural workers, is under the guarantee of our state. Our judicial authorities will do what the law requires regarding the persons who have responsibility in the incident."
After the incident, four suspects were detained by the gendarmerie. They were released in the morning hours after giving statements to the Public Prosecutor at the courthouse.
İHD: The basic obligation of the state is to protect people's life and security
The Human Rights Association (İHD) Commission Against Racism and Discrimination made a statement, reminding the state of its obligation to protect its citizens:
“Degrading, exclusionary, and othering expressions directed at the ethnic, regional, or social identity of a group directly threaten social peace, the principle of equal citizenship, and human dignity.
Seasonal agricultural workers carry out a significant portion of production under severe working and living conditions in different regions of our geography. It is unacceptable for people who go to another city for the purpose of working to be excluded, degraded, or subjected to attack due to the region they come from or the identity they carry.
No one can be targeted due to the place they were born, the language they speak, their ethnic origin, their region, or their social identity.
From the perspective of human rights, the basic obligation of the state is to effectively protect people's life, bodily integrity, and security.”
The Bar Association called the attack an ‘isolated dispute’
The Zonguldak Bar Association’s statement, on the other hand, claimed that the incident stemmed from an “isolated dispute” between a seasonal agricultural worker family and a family living in the village.
The Bar Association also stated that social groups should not be targeted over the identity, hometown, or type of work done by the parties. The association requesting all wait on the outcome of the judicial investigation:
“Making generalizations over the identity, social status, hometown, or working form of the parties to the incident and targeting any social group is unacceptable in terms of our social peace and culture of living together.
As a requirement of the principle of the rule of law, the neutral, effective, and meticulous investigation of every incident that occurs by relevant authorities; the protection of the parties' rights and the uncovering of the material truth carry great importance.
It is understood that a judicial investigation regarding the incident that occurred has been launched, and we emphatically remind that the outcome of the investigation should be awaited, and unverified information and claims should not be spread via social media and the press.”
Bektaşlı Village Headman: ‘This is not an ethnic identity conflict’
Bektaşlı Village Headman Atilla Akman, on the other hand, said that the incident was not related to ethnic origin. Speaking to Zonguldak's local newspaper ozgurhalkinsesi.com.tr, Akman said that the incident started with 13 or 14-year-old children arguing by the fountain over the cleaning of melon rinds. Stating that the argument was later brought to the family elders, Akman explained that the incident was calmed down by the intervention of security forces.
Akman said that seasonal workers have been coming to the village for about 12 years and hundreds of them work in the village. Akman added that despite living together with the workers for many years, they have never experienced a similar problem to date.
“There is no Kurdish-Turkish conflict; there is no ethnic identity conflict,” Akman said. He also noted that there were no major injuries over the incident and the workers continued their labor afterwards.
DEM Party: “We will not remain silent in the face of racism”
Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) Co-Chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan also reacted to the attacks via posts on their social media accounts.
Condemning the attacks, Hatimoğulları said: “In such a historical period where the will to build a together and equal future strengthens, targeting, threatening, and subjecting people who travel kilometers to earn a living through their labor to attacks due to their identities is never acceptable.”
Bakırhan also expressed a similar reaction, saying: “I condemn the racist attacks directed at our Kurdish citizens. Targeting, threatening, and subjecting seasonal agricultural workers, among whom there are also children, to violence due to their identities is never acceptable.”
The DEM Party said the following in a statement:
“Attacks directed at Kurdish seasonal workers in Zonguldak and Düzce are never acceptable. Evaluating such attacks as isolated [incidents] is a dangerous outcome of a racist and discriminatory mindset. In the sensitive period we are passing through, an opportunity should not be given to those who want to bring people face to face.
No one can threaten our Kurdish citizens in their own country, target them, or dare to attack their right to live and work. We call upon competent authorities to investigate the attacks in all aspects and the perpetrators and instigators, if any, to give an account before the law.
We invite everyone to use common sense against provocations and to enlarge the will for living together. We will not remain silent in the face of racism, and we will not leave our attacked citizens alone. As the DEM Party, we will follow up on these attacks and resolutely continue our struggle against racism and hate crimes.”
(HA/İK)