The Seven Unionist Finally Appear Before The Court

The administrators of the Turkish Road Transport Union (TÜMTİS), who have been in jail for about six months now, will finally appear before the court on June 6.

The Secretary-General of the Union Gürel Yılmaz told Bianet that the seven union administrators have been detained illegally and this situation is the result of the complaint by the employers regarding the organizational work these administrators were conducting at their places.

Storming their homes

Seventeen people, administrators and members at the Ankara branch of TÜMTİS, were taken away from their homes close to the dawn on November 20, 2007.

Ten of those arrested were let go by the court on November 23, while Nurettin Kılıçdoğan, the president of the branch, Hüseyin Babayiğit, the secretary of the branch, Halil Keten, the financial secretary of the branch, and Binali Güney, Selahattin Demir, Erkan Aydoğan and Atilla Yılmaz, the members of the administrative board, were arrested.

The indictment regarding the union administrators was prepared four and a half months after their arrest, while they were kept at Sincan prison in Ankara province.

Accusations

According to the information given by Yılmaz, the main accusations in the indictment are the following: Attempting to increase the number of the members in the union and thus produce wrongly gained benefit, founding a crime organization for personal benefit, and enrolling members forcefully.

Since the first accusation is a natural goal of a union, says Yılmaz, it cannot be a crime.

About the forceful enrolment, he says that there has not been a single worker with such a complaint so far, adding that it is the employers who complained. He stated that the enrollment is done through the notary.

About the last accusation, he asks why the union administrators would try to found another organization, since a union is an organization of workers anyways.

Since the six of the arrested administrators are workers and do not receive wages from the union, they cannot gain personal benefit by increasing the membership number, adds Yılmaz.

Support

In addition to the Confederation of Labor Unions of Turkey (TÜRK-İŞ), where TÜMTİS is a member, the non-governmental organizations, the Revolutionary Confederation of Labor Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK), and the unions affiliated with these confederations have so far made many supportive explanations.

Support came from the international labor movement as well. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) have also showed their transport through declarations they made to the government and the public that the union administrators should be freed immediately.

Yılmaz says that there will be foreign delegations as observers at the court hearing that will start at 09:00 on June 6 and that they are expecting the immediate release of the administrators. (EÜ/GG)