EI is expecting the decision of the High Court in Izmir today on the case of 31 public sector unionists, including 27 teachers. They are charged with providing “intellectual support to illegal organisations”.
The defendants are either members of the Turkish public sector union Kamu Emekçileri Sendikalari Konfederasyonu (KESK) or EI member organisation Egitim-Sen, and are either Kurdish or have links with the Kurdish community.
Background
The unionists were arrested on 28 May last year following months of surveillance of individual phones and emails. Their homes and workplaces were searched and computers confiscated. The arrests occurred in a very brutal way which caused psychological trouble for family members, especially the children.
The first trial was held from 19-20 Nov, 6 months after their arrest.
EI was part of an international trade union delegation present, and noted several rights violations during the proceedings:
- Until the submission of the indictment on 31 July, the defence lawyers did not have access to their files at all;
- During the trial, the rights of the defence were respected with the president of the court himself doing the interrogations. The defence lawyers were impeded from speaking with the defendants;
- Only one female guard being present although ten women were standing trial;
- The time allocated for the trial was limited with that many persons charged;
- Due to the nature of the specfied charge against them, the defendants should not have been handcuffed during the transport to and from the court.
If found guilty, each defendant could be sentenced up to 10 years' imprisonment. Although the court decided to released all 31 of them, the verdict will only be known on 2 Mar.
EI's actions
EI launched an urgent action appeal last June calling upon all member and partner organisations to support the release of the unionists. A total of 153 online messages were received from individuals all over the world, and letters were written by EI member organisations to the Turkish authorities protesting against the arrest.
In December 2009, the EI Executive Board meeting adopted an urgent motion on the case. It agreed “with the defendant’s assertions that they were prosecuted because of their commitment to secular, scientific and public education and the right of Turkish/Kurdish pupils to mother-tongue teaching,” and noted “that Egitim-Sen and KESK are under threat regularly because these organisations defend the rights of all workers and oppose the effects of the financial crisis.”
EI has also commissioned a report on the Political repression against teachers trade unionists in Turkey: the case of Egitim-Sen authored by Birgul Kutan and Mario Novelli.
To be released in mid-2010, the report sets out to contextualise the situation of trade unionsists in Turkey, and particularly teacher trade unionists. It seeks to understand why these teacher trade unionists were arrested, what was the background to the arrests, what is the nature of the ongoing legal process, and what might the international trade unioni movement do to assist our colleagues in Turkey.
“By accusing people of being a member of an armed and illegal organization (PKK) the state effectively stigmatises and delegitimise both the detainees and the trade union movement in general,” concludes the report.
Recently in February, an international delegation to the Turkish embassy in Brussels to address the global trade union movement’s concern about the dramatic social conflict at the tobacco company TEKEL. EI used the opportunity to hand its Executive Board's urgent motion to the ambassador, calling on the authorities to cease using the judicial system against trade unions.
EI's message
On behalf of all member organisations, EI reasserted its solidarity with the unionists in a message to Egitim-Sen and KESK:
"We hope that [tomorrow’s] court hearing will respect the rights of the defendants, as we remarked that the trial in November did not meet international or national legal requirements, and that all charges against the 31 unionists will be dropped by the court."
EI will continue to monitor the situation closely and will report on the judicial decision as soon as it is known.