Trade unions call for strike over death of miners in Turkey

Tension mounts in Turkey around the mine tragedy in Soma (Aanatolia) when it has been more than 40 hours since the explosion in a coal mine that caused the death of 282 workers at the country’s largest mining tragedy. Miners neighbors and volunteers try this morning rescue workers asphyxiation by carbon monoxide, which continues to claim lives. The public service unions have called for a one-day strike today to denounce the liability and negligence of the government in ” the slaughter of Soma.”  This morning, police have repressed with tear gas to 20,000 demonstrators protesting what happened in the city of Izmir.

While more bodies emerge from the mine, hopes for those still trapped and desperate families, who gather around are diminishing. “No one alive has been brought out of the mine during the past 12 hours,” said Energy Minister Taner Yildiz. “There could be still 320 workers trapped in the mine,” he told local media Thursday. Official figures speak only several dozen graves. “There is a lot of smoke there, in a place you see four or five bodies, in another corner there are about 10,” he added.

They are still hours of pain and stress for all of Turkey. “Hundreds of our brothers Soma workers have been sentenced to death from the beginning, being forced to work in brutal production processes to gain maximum profits,” reads a statement from several unions, which have appealed to the strike Thursday.

” We call on workers and friends of workers to rise today for our brothers in Soma,” the union statement, which also urged to wear black in mourning for the victims.

“Today, many unions are on strike, but not all, but should be,” says El Pais Didem Kül active in the Communist Party of Turkey. “Yesterday (Wednesday) participated in the protests in Taksim, there were thousands of people and the police responded with violence. I condemn the killing of Soma, but was not sure that the next was not mine, “he says.

“There are hundreds of workers killed in horrible conditions and the state will pay 1,000 liras (352 euros) to each family when just a couple of months it was known who were hiding millions of dollars from corruption in shoe boxes,” says Kül. Feelings of anger are growning in a country that has experienced a decade of rapid economic growth, but still in the top of the charts of accidents in Europe and in the world, especially in the mining sector.

On Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was jeered by an angry crowd in the town of Soma, who then attacked the front of the party headquarters of AKP. There have been demonstrations in many Turkish cities, which have been dispersed with water cannons and tear gas. In Istanbul several strategic points, such as subway stations and squares, groups of young people were thrown to the ground yesterday, representing the dead miners Soma, with charcoal and yellow helmets.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=44085

Posted by Maleeha Tareen on May 16 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.