301 Miners Who Lost Their Lives in Soma Commemorated

* Photos: Soma / Haluk Satır / AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

Six years ago yesterday (May 13), 301 miners lost their lives in an occupational homicide in the Soma district of Manisa province. The deceased workers have been commemorated by their relatives and loved ones, unions, rights and professional organizations in several cities.

The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK), Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), Ankara Chamber of Certified Public Accountants and Sworn-in Certified Public Accountants (ASMMO) and Ankara Medical Chamber (ATO) held a joint statement for the press on the sixth anniversary of Soma massacre.

Permitted to go out for four hours as part of COVID-19 measures, the children of deceased miners visited the graves of their fathers.

Joint statement in Ankara

The press statement held in the Ankara Medical Chamber was attended by representatives from labor and professional organizations.

Ankara Medical Chamber Chair Vedat Bulut reminded the audience that the commemoration ceremony that they wanted to hold at the Miner Memorial in Ankara was banned by the Governor's Office due to the pandemic.

"They did not allow 20 people to hold a commemoration due to the outbreak, but we know that hundreds of people are working without any social distance in mines," ATO Chair Bulut protested.

CLICK - Soma Commemoration Banned by Ankara Governor's Office

Addressing the audience at the press statement, DİSK Regional Representative Tayfun Görgün briefly stated the following:

"Wheels are turning, laborers and workers are dying. Our sorrow has grown further since the day when we lost 301 mineworkers, including five engineers. The interest sharing of the ones extending over to the team heads in mines knew the price of a calamity that might occur under and above the ground, they were taking the consequences.

"7 Soma Massacres occur in Turkey in a year. The greed for profits with a mindset of 'Let the wheels turn and so be it if workers die', neglected inspections, privatizations, forced production and intensives for subcontracting lie at the root of occupational homicides.

"Abandoning workers' health and work safety to the capital and market and the failure to take necessary precautions for workers' health and work safety are not mistakes, but willingly and knowingly made choices."

Commemoration in Manisa

A commemoration ceremony was organized in Soma Martyrs' Cemetery by the Governor's Office of Manisa, Manisa Metropolitan Municipality, Soma Sub-Governor's Office and Soma District Municipality.

Visiting the graves of their fathers, some children left the pictures that they drew for their fathers on their graves.

İŞSP: Organized, unionized struggle

The İstanbul Labor Union Branches' Platform (İŞSP) also released a written statement for the press in memory of the deceased miners:

"We, as workers, must unite, get organized and raise the struggle for our own demands so that Soma massacre is not remembered only once in a year. The massacre of workers and occupational homicides can only be stopped with an organized and unionized struggle, we can attain humane working and living conditions only by uniting."

TMMOB: Sense of injustice added to sorrow

In its written statement, the TMMOB referred to the judicial process ensuing the Soma massacre. Noting that "a sense of injustice caused by the disaster of justice was added to the sorrow for 301 workers who lost their lives in the disaster six years ago," the TMMOB said:

"No matter how many years have passed and what verdict the judiciary has delivered, we will never forget the death of 301 workers, the responsibility of the government and state institutions, the greedy owners of the mine company and the ones who caused the disaster."

İHD: It is our duty to not let it be forgotten

Human Rights Association (İHD) İskenderun Branch also held a statement for the press on this occasion.

İHD İskenderun Branch Co-Chair Ayten Kılınç said, "This system has been buried under debris in Soma, both politically and conscientiously. Turkey has become one of the countries with the highest number of occupational homicides as a result of this system and the mindset that sustains it. It is a duty of us all to not forget Soma Massacre and to not let it be forgotten."

CLICK - We Commemorate 301 Miners from Soma with Their Names

What happened?

On May 13, 2014, an explosion in 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 handed prison terms from 15 years to 22 years and 6 months.

Thirty-seven defendants, including Alp Gürkan, the owner of the company, 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 case is at the Court of Cassation.

(TP/SD)