Turkey: IUF demands release of all detained KESK union members

Seventy-one trade unionists, members of unions of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), including its head, were detained across the country using the pretext of an operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on June 25.

IUF general secretary Ron Oswald commented: "As part of its constitutional amendment package of 2010, the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) announced that they were committed to enhancing trade union rights. To date unions have seen repression at work, illegal arrests curtailing democratic rights and restrictions on unions' freedoms in Turkey. The governing should immediately stop arbitrary repression and its policy of intimidation against trade unions through detentions and raids on offices. It must unconditionally release all detained trade unionists".

He concluded: "Turkey will not be a modern and democratic country until the deficit of rights and ongoing wave of harassment and violence against trade unionists ends".

Please join the LabourtStart campaign to send off protest messages to the government in Ankara and to support the KESK union members.