‘156 Workers Lost Their Lives in May, At Least 29 Due to Coronavirus’

* Image: Health and Safety Labor Watch

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The Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG Assembly) has announced that at least 156 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides in Turkey in May 2020. At least 29 of the deceased died of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the report of the assembly.

Other highlights from the report are as follows:

"When we look at the distribution of occupational homicides by months, at least 114 workers lost their lives in January 2020, at least 133 workers in February, at least 113 workers in March, at least 221 workers in April and at least 156 workers in May. Taken together, at least 737 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides in the first five months of 2020.

"113 of the deceased were wage earners (workers, civil servants), 46 workers were working on their own behalf (farmers, shop owners).

"While six of the deceased were women workers and 150 were male workers, the occupational homicides of women took place in the sectors of agriculture, food, textile and metal.

"Six child workers lost their lives. The occupational homicides of children took place in agricultural sector.

'Only two were unionized'

"The average age of the deceased is as follows: 50 years of age for those working on their own behalf (farmers, shop owners) and 41 years of age for wage earners (workers, civil servants).

"59 laborers were aged 51 or over: Farmers and shop owners; workers in agriculture, textile, trade, metal, construction, transportation, ship/dock, healthcare, security and municipal affairs.

"14 migrant/refugee workers lost their lives: Six were from Afghanistan, five from Syria, one from Azerbaijan, one Georgia, one Iraq.

"Only two of the deceased were unionized, they were working in the fields of glass and municipal affairs.

"The highest number of occupational homicides took place in the sectors of agriculture, construction, transportation, trade/bureau, municipal/general affairs, metal, healthcare and textile.

Distribution by provinces

30 workers died in İstanbul; nine in İzmir; eight in Kocaeli; six in Antalya, Bursa and Denizli each; five in Ankara and Antep each; four in Trabzon; three in Aydın, Çanakkale, Edirne, Kayseri, Osmaniye, Sakarya, Samsun and Tekirdağ each; two in Erzurum, Maraş, Kars, Malatya, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Nevşehir, Sivas, Urfa and Zonguldak each; and one in Adana, Afyon, Ağrı, Aksaray, Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bolu, Diyarbakır, Düzce, Elazığ, Erzincan, Giresun, Hatay, Isparta, Karabük, Karaman, Kastamonu, Kırklareli, Kilis, Konya, Kütahya, Manisa, Muş, Niğde, Siirt, Şırnak, Uşak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat and Uzbekistan each.

The names of deceased workers:

Recep Ali Düzenli, Recep Uçar, Mehmet Ali Beşaltı, Arif Avcı, Recep Çoban, Halil Akdeniz, Barış Karaöz, Yusuf Aydınhan, Orhan Gündüz, Süleyman Akpolat, Vahap Eren, Ömer Biricik, Abit Yüksel, Hasan Mustafa Abidin, Muhammet Veli, Hikmet Veli, Gülşen Veli, Nizamettin Baltacı, Halil Erkan, Rime El Abid, Dursun Kartal, Osman Yankayış, Halil Erkan, Ali Muhammedi, Ali Yetkin, Hakan Çelik, Feyzi Cinci, Taner Tufan, Tahsin Gemici, Bayram Uzun, Zehra İyiyol, Harun Şakar, İbrahim Yetkin, Sami Yavaşçı, Beşar Supi Ali, Recep Akın, Yahya Filiz, Mustafa A., Seyithan Badur, Doğan Polat, Doğancan Kaya, Kamile Çevik, İbrahim Aldemir, Selahattin Üstünmet, Caner Bircan, Vefa Karataş, Kerim Şanver, Metin Polat, Mehmet Salih Bayraktar, Ramazan Yıldırım, Ramazan Onat, Ömer Bulut, Muhammet Ali Demir, Ahmet Turan Şekerci, Sevda Kayışkıran, Hakan Yaman, Süleyman Yılmaz, Tolga Alıcı, Hasan Basri Özen, Aleksander Chitauri, Mehmet Ali Aslan, Abd Hamudi, Hasan Aktepe, Ayşe Karadağ Yıldız, Tunay Karadaş, Mustafa Korucu, Ergün Karaman, Abdulbaki Yolbaş, Ramazan Gürcününoğlu, Mehmet Kavgacı, Hakan Özefe, Numan Aktaş, Rıdvan Can, Mevlüt Kanbak, Mehmet Kürtül, Ayşe Betül Topuz, Mustafa Karasu, Hasan Ilgın, Eyüp Aldı, Süleyman Öztürk, İsmail Işık, Erkan Taşdemir, Osman Ataş, Orhan Işık, Murtaza Tahir, İhsan Boz, Ömer Demir, İrfan Börklü, Hüseyin Yurtsever, Kadir Adıyaman, Berat Çetin, Ali Elek, Yavuz Çelik, Orhan Döşlü, Nuri Arık, Mustafa Tosun, Vakkas Boztaş, Ahmet Mustafa, Ramazan Kahır, Mehmet Coşkun, Olgun Kanık, Sinan Işık, Ahmet Ali Keleş, Galip Arıcı, Bilal Ağır, Muhsin Kaya, Sediqi Ataullah, İsmet Kabadayı, Hidayet Yaşa, Faruk Çelikkol, Mustafa Gülümser, Muzaffer Atıcı, Halil Saday, K.E., Cebrail Ölmez, Halis Kaya, Muhammed Bedir, Coşkun Tongul, Ali Kemal Haldız, Nihat Arık, Halim Korkmaz, Muhammed Adnan Yiğit, Sezgin Yeğitoğlu, Mustafa Sevilen, Barış Çolak, Yüksel Yayla, Hayri Dobur, Salih Cenap Şevli, Uğur Ertuğrul, Yıldırım Can, Galip Berkan Dingiloğlu, Tahir Bababeyli, Şeref Midesiz, Muhammet Aktaş, Ercan Dikyol, Sabri Kurtoğlu, Tahsin Atalay, Hafizullah Ahmadi, Yıldırım Demir, Yakup Gül, Emircan Çolak, Mehmet Ali İnal, Orhan Dönmez, Yıldıray Sarı, Mustafa Demir, İdris Şenyurt, Muhammet Furkan Akbaş, Adem Aksakal and unidentified eight workers.

(RT/SD)