Turkey - Detained Istanbul airport workers released at first hearing - December 31, 2018

In September 2018 construction workers at Istanbul airport went on strike because they did not receive their wages and to protest unsafe working conditions due to which some workers had died. In response to the industrial action, hundreds of workers were accused of violating the law on meetings and demonstrations and were arrested (see our September and October newsletter). While the labour ministry claimed that 27 workers had died on the site, official data disclosed by Turkey’s Presidential Communications Centre (CiMER) show that the real figure is much higher. 52 workers have died while building the new Istanbul airport. After having been imprisoned for more than two months, on 5 December 2018 at the first hearing of their trial, the imprisoned workers were finally released.

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For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers or Sanne van der Gaag, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Willy De Backer wdebacker@etui.org © ETUI