Mine Workers to March from Soma to Ankara

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

More than 3,500 mine workers who were dismissed from their jobs by Soma Holding and Uyar Mining will walk from Manisa's Soma to the capital Ankara.

301 mineworkers were killed in an explosion in 2014 at a coal mine owned by Soma Holding. Workers said they will walk for one kilometer for each one of the killed workers.

The walk will start on Saturday (October 5) and is planned to be completed in 10 days.

Tahir Çetin, the chairperson of the Independent Mine Workers Union, told bianet that the workers have not been able to receive their seniority indemnity payments for the last five years.

"As the union, we stated that the indemnity payments are receivable. We ensured togetherness within the workers. Two demonstrations were held in Soma. both of them targeted the Turkey Coal Enterprises (TKİ).

"We said, 'No one can have the opportunity for production without your permission in the underground coal fields. You do the collective labor agreements with employers. You are obliged to protect the workers,' and submitted our petitions.

"When we went to the TKİ for the second time, we were not let in. We said, 'As the workers, we want to get a response to our petitions.' Then we pressured them and we got in. When we went inside, they said, 'There is nothing we can do. The entire process is in Ankara'. Then we gathered with our colleagues.

"These indemnity payments were instrumentalized by the government for political interests. They made three installments but did not pay. There is also a protocol by the yellow union for 24 and 26 installments. These indemnity payments are not made. And we said, 'We start a walk to Ankara to get our payments in full." (AÖ/VK)