EI extends its solidarity to the 15 arrested members of the Turkish teacher union, Egitim-Sen, who are still detained after almost 40 days in jail. Among the detainees are Egitim-Sen General Secretary Mehmet Bozgeyik and Egitim-Sen’s Equality Officer, Sakine Esen Yilmaz.
In total, over 70 members of the Public Sector Confederation, KESK, were taken into police custody on 25 June through police raids in union offices and the houses of trade unionists in over 20 cities. Twenty-eight remain in jail.
Detained
As well as the members and leaders of the EI affiliate, Egitim-Sen (see list below), other detained trade unionists are from the following unions: SES (Health and Social Services Union), Tum Bel-Sen (All Municipality and Local Administrations Workers Union), Tarim Orkam-Sen (Agriculture), BTS (Transport), BES (Bureau Workers Union), Yapi-Yol-Sen (Energy, Industry, Mine Public Workers Union), and Haber-Sen (Media, Communication and Postal Employees Union).
EI: Solidarity mission
EI has strongly condemned the full-scale attacks against Turkey’s trade unions and continues to interact with the Turkish authorities.
In August and October, an EI solidarity mission will travel to Turkey to visit the imprisoned teacher unionists. The delegation will convey a message to the Turkish Prime Minister urging the immediate and unconditional release of all detained trade unionists.
To see the list of 15 Egitim Sen officials and members detained since 25 June, please click here.