Factory worker Hasan Yıldırım, 31, died in Taksim

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"Our working class formed their own unions, elected their own representatives. They have our eternal confidence. They will both help [the unions] and keep them in check. No power will break the unity of the UZEL workers and our working class. Let there be no doubt..." [1]

These words were written by Hasan Yıldırım in a piece he wrote for the 83rd issue of the bulletin of the Mineworkers' Union of Turkey (Maden-İş).

Hasan Yıldırım was born in 1946.

He worked at the Uzel Factory in Edirnekapı, Istanbul.

He was 31 years old when he lost his life on 1 May 1977.

According to the autopsy report, the cause of his death was a firearm injury causing internal bleeding as a result of damage to the stomach, liver and heart caused by the bullet wound.

Reaching his family

I tried to reach Hasan Yıldırım's family through the Ayvalık Regional Directorate of the People's Republican Party (CHP). I had seen Hasan Yıldırım mentioned in statements about the First of May shared on their official accounts. Although they put me in touch with his daughter, Ayşe Yıldırım, she was only one year old when her father died, so I was not able to interview her.

Celal Özdoğan, president of the automobile workers' union Otomobil-İş, put me in touch with Rıza Durak, former president of the Topkapı branch of Otomobil-İş and a friend of Hasan Yıldırım from the Uzel Factory, who spoke to me about his friend.

Rıza Durak, friend, tells

Around seven o'clock in the morning we had blocked off the Unkapanı Bridge. We were stewards for  the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) and were wearing red DİSK vests with "Mineworkers' Union" on the back.

They'd given everyone a baton that day as protection against the outside threats. Because the human chain we'd formed by holding hands was broken, we couldn't protect each other in that crowd.

It's important to mention the reasons for this atmosphere of insecurity. At that time, political fractions in Turkey had launched a full-on attack on DİSK, or at least that's how I interpret the situation.

That was how things were when we went to the rally on 1 May 1977. The reason, according to those fractions, was that the Mineworkers' Union's relationship with the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) was different from other leftist parties. They thought there was a one-sided collaboration with the TKP, and that's why they were angry.

This tension revealed itself on 1 May. The members of Halkın Yolu (People's Path), Halkın Kurtuluşu (People's Liberation) and Halkın Birliği (People's Unity) did us great damage, unfortunately. All this needs to be recorded for history.

Shot right next to us

To get back to that day... By 7pm we still hadn't got beyond Tarlabaşı. We'd been waiting for 12 hours. During this time, my father came over to me three times and said, "Rıza, warn your friends, it's dangerous up there." He added, "I saw armed men in front of the Water Administration Building, be very careful."

I warned my friends straight away, and before we even reached the square, during Kemal Türkler's speech, a shot was fired. When the shot was heard, Murat Tokmak, who was then president of the Topkapı branch of the Mineworkers' Union, and Mehmet Ali Kılıç, the union representative at Uzel, came over to me. While we were discussing what to do, more shots were fired and that's how they dispersed us.

The bullet hit him in the chest

While we were walking to the square, I told Hasan about the buildings along Tarlabaşı Boulevard. The old buildings, their history. There was a restaurant on that road where we took Hasan when he was injured. The bullet hit him in the chest. We tried to comfort him but he was badly wounded. At that point the police were yelling, "Get the ones in the red vests out the square." We had to get ourselves to a safe place.

Hasan and I spent lots of time together. He was also studying at university. He did quality control at the factory. At the same time he was also taking exams. He was at Istanbul University but I don't remember which department. He was originally from Balıkesir. He was a very good person, but death came and took him at a young age.

We couldn't go to his funeral

The other two Uzel workers [who died on 1 May 1977], Kahraman Alsancak and Ziya Baki, weren't with us that day but they were also members of the Mineworkers' Union.

Nejat Alpat was the personnel manager of our factory at the time. They called me in on Monday. "Rıza, don't put on your work clothes, Mr Alpat is waiting for you," they said. It was eight in the morning. They said, "We're going to give you money, a car and a driver; we've lost three men, their bodies are at the morgue in Vatan. Go and collect them." I said that the union would cover the costs but that we might need a vehicle, and we set off. When I say "we" I mean the driver and me. I had to go on my own.

When we got there we couldn't get near the morgue because of the crowds. 15-20 thousand people were waiting in front of the morgue that day. They were shouting, yelling slogans. Families, friends, unionists... Everyone was waiting for someone. There were crowds of people all along Vatan Street.

It was two or three days before the union representatives were able to collect his body.

But we couldn't go to Hasan's funeral. They wouldn't let us.

Hasan's family were offered a survivor's pension but they didn't want the money. They were angry. They were sad. We couldn't go to Hasan's funeral; that still hurts. (TY/APA/SD)

[1] https://www.birlesikmetalis.org/maden_is/madenis_dergi_83.pdf

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.

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