* Images: AA, ÇHD, Twitter
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It has been seven years since 301 workers lost their lives in a mine explosion in Soma, Manisa on May 13, 2014. The grieving families' search for justice is still ongoing in the 7th year of the massacre.
The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has released a written statement on this occasion and commemorated the 301 deceased miners.
Signed by HDP's Vice Co-Chair Responsible for the Labor Commission Şaziye Köse, the statement has said:
"The government stayed away from bringing the responsible parties to account for the massacre. With its pro-capital attitude, the government has preferred being directly a party to every massacre."
The party has stressed that "the massacres of workers, primarily the Soma Massacre, is not a 'fate' or 'fitrah' (original disposition)."
"These massacres took place as a result of the preferred policies; they still continue to do so. We, as workers, the ones who fall dead, who lost their loved ones in the massacre and who are resisting, have never forgotten the Some Massacre and have not let it be forgotten.
"Our struggle will continue against the ones who want to make the Soma Massacre forgotten by prolonging the judicial process and to suppress the searches for justice. Because, to us, calling the responsible parties to account for the Soma Massacre is a raison d'etre."
'It was caused by privatization'
The Energy, Industry and Mining Public Employees Union has also released a written statement. The union has underlined that "private companies lacking the necessary conditions and technical infrastructure are inviting new Soma disasters by forced production and greed for profit."
The union has further emphasized that "the primary reason behind the occupational homicides that leads to the loss of life of thousands of laborers every year is privatization and subcontracting."
'We haven't forgotten the kickers'
In a social media message shared by the Social Law (Sosyal Hukuk), it is said, "It has been seven years today. One of the biggest massacres of workers in Turkey happened in Soma. We have forgotten neither the ones who said, 'This is in this job's original disposition (fitrah), nor the ones who kicked the miner or the ones who protected the bosses."
"We have not forgotten Soma and we will not let it be forgotten."
Bugün tam 7 yıl oldu. Türkiye'nin en büyük işçi katliamlarından biri Soma'da yaşandı. Katliam için "bu işin fıtratında var" diyenleri de madenciye tekme atanları da patronları koruyanları da unutmadık. Soma'yı unutmadık, unutturmayacağız. 301 can için #SomayıHatırla pic.twitter.com/QayEXgKJ2j
— Sosyal Hukuk (@sosyalhukuk) May 13, 2021
What happened?On May 13, 2014, an explosion in the Soma coal mine in the western Manisa province caused an underground fire in the mine, which burned until May 15. 301 workers were killed and 162 were injured in what was the worst mine incident in the country's history. The trial began on April 13, 2015, and ended on July 11, 2018. There were 45 defendants and 162 injured workers as victim plaintiffs in the case. Akhisar Heavy Penal Court sentenced Soma Coal Enterprises Inc. Board Chair Can Gürkan to 15 years in prison for "killing by negligence" and banned him from mining business for three years. Soma Coal Enterprises Inc. General Director Ramazan Doğru, mining engineer and Deputy Operations Manager İsmail Adalı, Operations Manager Akın Çelik and mining engineer Ertan Arsoy were given jail terms from 15 years to 22 years and 6 months. Thirty-seven defendants, including Alp Gürkan, the owner of the company and the father of Can Gürkan, were acquitted. İzmir Regional Court of Justice 14th Penal Chamber upheld the prison sentences for the five defendants on April 19, 2019. Can Gürkan was released from prison on the same day. The Court of Cassation 12th Penal Chamber reversed the decision on September 30, 2020. It stated that Can Gürkan targeted increased production without taking required safety measures and setting up a ventilation system despite knowing that there was a high risk of fire. It stated that Gürkan, Doğru Çelik and Adalı should be sentenced for "causing deaths by probable intent" 301 times and "causing injury by probable intent" 261 times. All arrested defendants of the Soma case were released on February 5, 2021. |
(DŞ/SD)
