UNISON has joined the international trade union movement in calling for the Turkish government to stop the brutal crackdown on protests against its increasingly authoritarian style.
Turkish riot police have moved into Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which has been occupied by anti-government protestors for two weeks, firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
The European Public Services Union (EPSU), to which UNISON is affiliated, said: “People have the right to express their concerns and engage in protests and industrial action against government policy they disagree with.”
UNISON has urged its members to sign a petition addressed to Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, supporting the demands of trade unionists and others in Turkey that police violence against protestors end, those responsible be held accountable, those who have been arrested be freed and their charges dropped, and that the ban on demonstrations be lifted.