Laborer Hüseyin Kırkın, 23, Died in Taksim

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Hüseyin Kırkın was born in 1954 in İskilip, Çorum.

He worked at "Ankara Site" also known as the Atatürk Student Dormitory.

Kırkın was a Laborer who belonged to the Union for Hotel, Restaurant, and Entertainment Venue Workers of Turkey, or "Oleyis" as it is known in short. He came to Istanbul on 1 May 1977 to be in Taksim Square, and lost his life there.

Autopsy report

According to the autopsy report, the cause of his death was mechanical asphyxia due to compression of the chest. The report states that external scratches on his body may have occurred as a result of falling or being pushed to the ground during the crush.

In trying to learn Hüseyin Kırkın's story, I approached the union he had belonged to, but when they couldn't provide any information, I called the Revolutionary Tourism Workers' Union (Dev-Turizm İş). However, they too, unfortunately, were unable to find any information about him.

Finally, in my quest to learn more about Kırkın, I managed to locate his nephew, Hasret Kırkın. As Hasret was born the year his uncle died, he was able to relate his uncle's story only through what he had been told by his father. Sadly, Hüseyin Kırkın has no other surviving relatives.

We listen to Hüseyin Kırkın's story from his nephew, Hasret Kırkın.

Hasret Kırkın, nephew:

My uncle wasn't married but he was engaged when he died.

I know about him from what my father told me, because I myself was only born in 1977.

According to my father, my uncle was fearless. And he couldn't tolerate injustice. But I don't know whether he belonged to a union, or if he was a member of any other group.

"I'm going"

He always went to the First of May rallies. On 1 May 1977, one of his friends said to him, "Don't go Hüseyin, it's going to get messy this year." My uncle got very upset at this and insisted, "I'm going." And he went.

There were no bruises or scars on his body, someone hit him in the neck with a club or a baton. That's what my father said. I mean, they hit him from behind. And he died right there.

Like my uncle, my grandfather was a real Laborer too. He was handicapped, my grandfather, blind in one eye. And he couldn't hear either. His children were like his eyes and ears to him. In Ankara there's this Social Security Authority [SSK] Building where my grandfather worked as a security guard. My uncle's death really hit him hard. I was six when we lost my grandfather.

My father never recovered

My father said it was chaos there that day. He said, "When we went to get his body, we saw they'd piled people up like sardines." I don't know who it was, but somebody called to say they had the body. When they got there, they saw they'd put all the bodies in a pile.
My father was never the same after my uncle died. He started drinking. Whenever he thought of my uncle, he'd start wailing, "My dear Hüseyin, why did you leave us so soon," and he'd yell out his name, "Hüseyin!" And that's why he named me Hasret [meaning "longing"). Because he never got to spend enough time with his brother, because his brother passed too early, and so my father longed for him.

Why didn't anyone call us?

It's nice that you want to talk with me about my uncle, but there's something I want to say: Why hasn't anyone wondered until now about these people's lives, about who they were, about what they did? It's been 43 years. Why hasn't anyone cared about the people who died that day, and stood up for them?

The families of those who died in other tragedies even received pensions. Why didn't anyone take care of us, of my grandmother, my grandfather? (TY/NÖ/VK)

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CLICK - 1 May 1977 e-book is online

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

Political panorama of Turkey-1977

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Counterperson Kadir Balcı, 35, died in Taksim

Student Hacer İpek Saman, 24, died in Taksim

Factory Worker Kahraman Alsancak, 29, died in Taksim

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Student Ercüment Gürkut, 26, died in Taksim

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