Mehmet Bozgeyik, president of KESK, Turkish Confederation of Public Service Workers, delivered a passionate speech to UNISON’s national delegate conference this morning.
Addressing the conference in Turkish, with translation from a colleague, he acknowledged that this was the first time he had been able to travel abroad in six years due to a travel ban imposed on the trade union activists.
Hundreds of delegates raised ‘Free Gonul’ signs in solidarity with Gonul Erden, the Turkish Trade union leader currently imprisoned in the country. UNISON attended the first day of her trial earlier this year and general secretary Christina McAnea is due to attend the next day of Ms Erden’s trial on 4 July 2022.
In 2012, Mehmet Bozgeyik and his colleagues were detained in prison for almost ten months for demanding trade union rights, and peace and democracy in the country. He said: “We were released from prison mainly because of the solidarity action from the international trade union movement, including UNISON’s colleagues. Thank you again for this solidarity.”
Mr Bozgeyik described the bleak state of affairs for the left in Turkey: “We are being terrorised for our activities. Just last night, sixteen journalists were sent to prison.”
He also described how public services were under extreme pressure, some failing, due to privatisation: “these failures are a result of neoliberal policies, subcontracting and the outsourcing of public services in Turkey, as is the case with many other countries in the world.”
“We were dismissed from the public sector for being trade unionists and carrying out trade union activities. In total 4,600 KESK members were permanently dismissed from the public sector, but we continue to struggle because of the solidarity that you have been showing with us since the very beginning.”
Mr Bozgeyik also spoke of the increase in domestic violence against women. Last week, the Turkish We Will Stop Femicide Platform claimed 160 women have been killed in Turkey this year and 423 in 2021, with many murders committed by family members.
In spite of the increased in violence against women, the government of Turkey has withdrawn from the Istanbul convention: the key UN convention on preventing violence against women.
Drawing all of the struggles together, Mr Bozgeyik declared: “democracy and peace are equal to bread and water. We are determined. We know that despite all this pressure, it is still possible to build a new society, a new order.”
“We must be clear, and we must be determined to move away from the capitalist hegemony, so we can build a better society for everyone.”
UNISON delegates met Mr Bozgeyik’s rallying cry of “Long live KESK, long live UNISON, long live solidarity” with a standing ovation.