506 Refugees Lose Their Lives in Occupational Homicides in 6 Years

"Not an accident, but a homicide"

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The Laborers' Health and Occupational Safety (İSİG) Assembly has released its report on occupational homicides in July 2019. The report has shown that at least 163 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides last month.

The report has also shared information regarding the refugees and migrants who lost their lives in occupational homicides in the last six years:

• In 2013, 22 immigrants/refugees (2 percent)
• In 2014, 53 immigrants/refugees (3 percent)
• In 2015, 67 immigrants/refugees (4 percent)
• In 2016, 96 immigrants/refugees (5 percent)
• In 2017, 88 immigrants/refugees (4 percent)
• In 2018, 110 immigrants/refugees (6 percent)
• In the first seven months of 2019, 70 immigrants/refugees (7 percent)

Occupational homicides in the first seven months

The report has also given details about the refugees and immigrants who died in occupational homicides in the first seven months of 2019.

Accordingly, of the 1,004 workers who lost their lives in the first seven months, 26 workers were from Syria, 23 workers from Afghanistan, four workers from Turkmenistan, four workers from Ukraine, three workers from Uzbekistan, two from Azerbaijan, two from Iran, two from Georgia, one from Czechia, one from Italy, one from Colombia and one from Russia.

According to the report, 17 of the occupational homicides occured in the sector of agriculture/forestry, eight in municipal/general affairs, eight in construction/road, eight in ships/dock, seven in textile/leather, five in tree/paper, four in chemistry, three in accomodation/entertainment, two in food, two in metal, one in mining, one in press and one in commerce.

The most frequent causes of death were explosion/burning, being poisoned/suffocated or drowned, traffic/service bus accident, being crushed/trapped under debris and falling from a higher place. While six of the deceased workers were children, nine of them were women.

The provinces where the highest number of occupational homicides occurred in the first seven months are Ankara, İstanbul and Kocaeli.

163 occupational homicides in July

The report has also shared the following information about the occupational homicides that occurred in July 2019:

• At least 163 workers lost their lives in July.
• In the first seven months of 2019, 1,004 workers lost their lives: 159 workers died in January, 127 workers in February, 114 workers in March, 153 workers in April, 163 workers in May, 125 workers in June and at least 163 workers in July.
• Of the 163 deceased workers, 120 workers were wage earners (workers and civil servants) and 43 workers were working on their own behalf (farmers and shop owners).
• While 10 of the deceased workers were women, 153 of them were men. The homicides of women took place in the sectors of agriculture, office, metal, healthcare, accommodation and municipality.
• In July 2019, six child workers, four of whom were younger than 14, lost their lives in occupational homicides. These homicides took place in the sectors of agriculture and commerce.
• Six immigrants/refugees died in occupational homicides. While two of them were from Syria and two of them were from Turkmenistan, two workers were from Italy and Georgia each.
• The sectors with the highest number of occupational homicides were agriculture, construction, transportation, municipal/general affairs, commerce/office, metal and mining.
• The most frequent causes of death were traffic/service bus accident, being crushed/trapped under debris, falling from a high place, heart attack, electric shock, being poisoned/suffocated and suicide.
• In July, occupational homicides took place in 52 provinces of Turkey, primarily in Kocaeli, Manisa, Aydın, Gaziantep, Ankara, İzmir, Mersin, Samsun, Van, Adıyaman, Konya and Muğla.
• Only one of the deceased was a member of a union.

The names of the deceased workers

Alper Kıransoy, İsa Dikme, Serkan Can, Bülent Bayramin, Selahattin Gökbel, Lokman Kahya, Erol Özdemir, Şakir İpek, Mehmet Ali Kubat, Ayhan Yaşar, Mehmet Ali Sönmez, Zeynel Bayazgül, Kazım Vural, Yunus Yıldırım, Şeref Doğramacı, Kazım Vural, İmdat Öz, Güler Adam, Muhammed Emir Bozanoğlu, İlhan Yılmaz, Mustafa Endes, Hasan İğircik, Hakan Kasırga, Hakan Tükkan, Saniye Çağlar, Şems Aybars, Hasan Şimşek, İsmail U., Metin Çomak, Ufuk Kıranlı, Kemal Baştuğ, Bayram Sarı, İbadullah Özdemir, Ahmet Boy, Enis Eken, Nafi Dişli, Nezir Ayvaz, Mustafa Akkaya, Yusuf Çırak, Halil Doğan Mıhçı, Mustafa Dilemen, Mehmet Hasçelik, Hamza Surani, Valid Youssef, Vahdettin Çelik, Hicabi Gül, Sefahattin Bozkurt, Osman Kocaman, Erol Kilit, Mehmet Yanar, Çınar Baysak, Şeref Öktem, Ahmet Yuca, Rahim Aydın, Ali Taş, İsmail Albayrak, Yılmaz Solgun, Metin Durmaz, Erol Güney, Erdoğan Aydın, Muharrem Külah, Ali Osman Güçlü, Zülfikar Can, Mehmet Eroğlu, Orhan Kartal, Osman Ersoy, Süleyman Şen, Mehmet Karataş, Ömer Kazancı, Sinan Erkut, Yahya Cahit Küçükşahin, S.A., Cengiz Yalman, Abdullah Özbey, Sabahattin Güngördü, Mustafa Şahin, Ömer Tepe, Ercan Akgül, Halil Donat, Ömer Koçak, Necati Er, Murat Güraras, İdris Koç, Şerif Özdilek, Ferhat Sertkaya, Şinasi Kurnaz, Mustafa Koç, Roberto Montegurdia, Özlem Çelik, Burhan Asan, Günay Gönülaçar, Ravil Geniyev, Osman Duran, Mehmet Çalar, Ercan Sarıtaş, Özgür Kaya, Ahmet Pekgöz, Adem Kavşut, Alişan Eşref, Mustafa Çelik, Harun Özay, Hüsniye Barutçu Türkdoğan, Aydın Yiğit, Renas Taşkıran, İlyas Yazgan, Musa Turunc, Hüseyin Yıldız, Şeref Doğan, Yunus Doğan, Şakir Koçer, Ali İhsan Yavuz, Hacı Demirkıran, Mustafa Ali Altuntaş, Hasan Akgül, Nizamettin Gürler, Ahmet Ataşlı, İbrahim Bozkurt, Rıdvan Tunç, Hasan Ali Gürsoy, Ramazan Karaduman, Şenol Yücel, Ramazan Kavuşduk, Nebi Saygı, Mesut Karakülah, Celal Şeneroğlu, Hasan Dede Solak, Osman Sezgin, Rabia Vural, Ramazan Gürel, Sadık Pektaş, Hüseyin Tavşan, Metin Parça, İsmail Derya, Ayaz Güloğlu, Nupelda Güloğlu, Mustafa Güngör, Serdar Şahin, Erkan Kurut, İrem Kurut, Gülbahar Akdeniz, Bekir Aydın, Abdurrahman Balcıoğlu, Hüseyin Barış, Bayram Türkmen, Tülin Türkmen, Abdülhakim Demir, Vali Çevik, Govsettin Türkmen, Furkan Diri, Demir Ali Tekin, Ali Akbaş, Zehra Aydın, Mustafa Nuri Uçar, A.Y., Erdoğan Hoplamaz, Seyfi Şanlı, Sıtkı Atille, Yasin Atille, Ömer İncecik, Mehmet Özsöz, Bülent Gültekin, Hikmet Akdemir and Mehmet Aykut.

(HA/SD)