'If you can’t find the killers, you can’t remove the stain'

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Kani Beko, the MP for İzmir with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), was the Chair of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) from 2013-2018.

Speaking to bianet about the incidents of 1 May 1977, Beko talks of what it means that the killers of the 34 people, whom he refers to as the "First of May Martyrs", have never been found, and of how every year DİSK commemorates those who were killed on 1 May 1977.

He says that if the state bears no responsibility for the massacre, it must find the perpetrators and put them on trial.

I leave the word to Kani Beko.

1 May in the history of DİSK

DİSK was founded in 1967 and carried out its first mass rally on 1 May 1976 in Taksim Square. Sinister forces turned the celebrations of 1 May 1977 to bloodshed, and 34 people lost their lives. From that day on, workers have called Taksim "The First of May Square" to honour the memory of the First of May martyrs.

After the celebrations of 1 May 1978, the military regime closed Taksim Square off to First of May celebrations as of 1979. Every year in our speeches to celebrate the First of May we, the presidents of DİSK, have commemorated the dead and declared at the top of our voices that their killers must be found.

'We never lost sight of Taksim'

After the 1980 military coup, the ban [on 1 May celebrations in Taksim] continued at a heightened level. Those who tried to celebrate the day in Taksim met with fierce police violence. Hundreds of revolutionaries were detained and dozens arrested in operations carried out in the lead-up to the day. Mehmet Akif Dalcı was murdered in 1989, as were Hasan Albayrak, Dursun Odabaş and Yalçın Levent in 1996. In 1990, Gülay Beceren, a student at Istanbul Technical University, was paralysed after being hit by a bullet.

After DİSK resumed its activities in 1992, the decision was taken to hold the 1 May celebrations in Taksim and we fought for this. The confederation fought determinedly to ensure the unity of labourers, workers, socialists and revolutionaries. It never lost sight of Taksim as the aim, and continuously raised this demand.

We continued this fight, paying a heavy price, between 2007 and 2009. Finally, the government had no choice but to open the square to workers and labourers. From 2010-2012, there was huge public participation in the celebrations held in Taksim in honour of the First of May martyrs, and it was with great joy that people reclaimed Taksim Square.

European Court of Human Rights judgment

In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Turkey with regard to the unlawful barriers and prohibitions that the state had implemented for years. The court stated that the justifications provided by the state were not necessary or verifiable, and that the demand for a site for celebrations was covered by the right to hold meetings and demonstrations.

This judgment confirmed the true owners of this site that workers had fought for by tooth and nail. However, despite this legitimate and legal foundation, in 2013, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government once again closed off Taksim to its true owners in a step that is martial law in all but name.

They showed that they did not recognise this judgment by attacking labourers and workers with water cannons and tear gas. This violence also continued in the Gezi Park protests.

DİSK carried out a great deal of research on the events of 1 May 1977, we held mass marches, we followed the trials, we wrote many articles highlighting the impunity [of the perpetrators]; but despite all our efforts, for 43 years, the perpetrators have not been caught or brought to trial.

'We have pursued this case for 43 years'

Lawyers who are connected with DİSK followed almost every step of the trial. We received support from our friends in Europe. The presidents of DİSK and of the unions connected to DİSK, together with our revolutionary-patriotic friends, have pursued this case for 43 years. However, we are faced with a deep state; and we know that that is why we have not seen any results.

There have been so many massacres in Turkey. Very recently, they murdered our citizens in the heart of Ankara, the capital of the Republic of Turkey. In Sivas they set our people on fire. People like Bahriye Üçok were murdered, people like Uğur Mumcu were murdered, people like Pir Sultan were murdered.

If you will not be the kind of state who investigates these massacres, if you will not bring the murderers of those killed in Ankara, or of the First of May martyrs, to justice, you will never be able to remove the stain that you carry. What's more, you will be inviting the massacres that will occur in the future.

If Turkey makes any claim of wanting to redeem itself in the eyes of the rest of the world, it will need to catch these killers and bring them to justice. Because as long as the perpetrators are not found, the first question that comes to mind is, "Did the state protect these people?" So find those killers. And by doing so you will go at least a small way towards easing the pain of the families of those who were murdered. (TY/APA/SD)

About Kani Beko

Worker, unionist, CHP İzmir MP. He worked as the Chair of the Karşıyaka Culture
Solidarity Association (1972) and a workplace representative at the DİSK Textile
Workers' Union (1975). He became a member of the DİSK Genel-İş Union in 1977.
After the DİSK was closed following the coup on September 12, 1980, he worked as
the representative of the Belediye-İş Union at the ESHOT Trolleybus Workshop for
seven years. He was the DİSK Genel-İş Secretary-General between 2004-2013. After
his terms as the DİSK Ankara Regional Chair and the DİSK Genel-İş Chair, he was
elected the DİSK Chair in 2013.He graduated from middle school in Şemikler in
Karşıyaka, İzmir. He was born in 1953 in Macedonia.

About Tuğçe Yılmaz

Journalist, editor, researcher. "1 May 1977 The Voices of Those Who Lost Their Loved Ones / 1 May 1977 and Impunity" she was engaged in this dossier as a researcher, reporter, editor and writer. Her articles, interviews and reports are published in outlets such as bianet, BirGün Book, K24, 5Harfliler, Gazete Karınca and 1+1 Forum. She graduated from Ege University, Faculty of Literature Department of Philosophy. She was born in Ankara in 1991.

This text was created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union provided under Etkiniz EU Programme. Its contents are the sole responsibility of "IPS Communication Foundation" and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

CLICK - 1 May 1977 e-book is online

The ones who lost their lives on 1 May '77

The ones whose loved ones we could talk to:

Ahmet Gözükara (34, teacher), Ali Sidal (18, worker), Bayram Çıtak (37, teacher), Bayram Eyi (50, construction worker), Diran Nigiz (34, worker), Ercüment Gürkut (27, university student), Hacer İpek Saman (24, university student), Hamdi Toka (35, Seyyar Satıcı), Hasan Yıldırım (31, Uzel worker), Hikmet Özkürkçü (39, teacher), Hüseyin Kırkın (26, worker), Jale Yeşilnil (17, high school student), Kadir Balcı (35, salesperson), Kıymet Kocamış (Kadriye Duman, 25, hemşire), Kahraman Alsancak (29, Uzel worker), Kenan Çatak (30, teacher), Mahmut Atilla Özbelen (26, worker-university student), Mustafa Elmas (33, teacher), Mehmet Ali Genç (60, guard), Mürtezim Oltulu (42, worker), Nazan Ünaldı (19, university student), Nazmi Arı (26, police officer), Niyazi Darı (24, worker-university student), Ömer Narman (31, teacher), Rasim Elmas (41, cinema laborer), Sibel Açıkalın (18, university student), Ziya Baki (29, Uzel worker),

The ones whose loved ones we did/could not talk to:

Aleksandros Konteas (57, worker), Bayram Sürücü (worker), Garabet Akyan (54, worker), Hatice Altun (21), Leyla Altıparmak (19, hemşire), Meral Cebren Özkol (43, nurse), Mustafa Ertan (student), Ramazan Sarı (11, primary school student)

The ones only the names of whom are known: Ali Yeşilgül, Mehmet Ali Kol, Özcan Gürkan, Tevfik Beysoy, Yücel Elbistanlı

The one whose name is unknown: A 35-year-old man

The voices of those who lost their loved ones: 1 May '77 and impunity

Political panorama of Turkey-1977

Film industry worker Rasim Elmas, 41, died in Taksim

Construction Worker Bayram Eyi, 50, died in Taksim

Teacher Bayram Çıtak, 37, died in Taksim

High School Student Jale Yeşilnil, 17, died in Taksim

Teacher Kenan Çatak, 31, died in Taksim

Teacher Ahmet Gözükara, 33, died in Taksim

Teacher Hikmet Özkürkçü, 39, died in Taksim

Student-laborer Niyazi Darı, 24, died in Taksim