Dozens of trade unions, youth groups, and resistance movements in Turkey have declared they will march on İstanbul’s iconic Taksim Square on May Day, in open defiance of both a government ban and the decision by the country’s largest labour confederations to gather in Kadıköy instead.
More than 25 organisations — including independent unions, leftist political parties, student and queer collectives — say Taksim remains the only legitimate site for Labour Day in Turkey, where the square has become a potent symbol of workers’ struggles since the 1977 massacre in which 34 people were killed.
The 2025 Taksim May Day Coordination Committee accused the government of using security and administrative bans to criminalise resistance. But the committee also directed criticism at the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK), and opposition parties for what it called “an organised withdrawal” from the square.
“We are facing May Day in a time when workers and labourers resist stitch by stitch, and youth reject a life of servitude,” the committee said in a statement. “Taksim calls us — to build a life of freedom and fraternity under the tree of life.”
The call has been joined by the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the Queer and Feminist Bloc, and the Limter-İş union of shipyard workers, among others. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party’s youth wing said it will march to Taksim in what it called a stand for dignity and memory. “Our insistence on a socialist life will liberate Taksim,” it said in a statement.
Taksim Square has been under effective government lockdown since the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Since then, access to the square has been routinely denied for political and union gatherings, citing security concerns. The Constitutional Court recently ruled that banning May Day demonstrations in Taksim violates the right to peaceful assembly — a ruling many now demand the state implement.
Despite this, Turkey’s interior minister has warned against unauthorised gatherings and said law enforcement will take “necessary precautions”. In past years, riot police have blockaded streets and detained marchers attempting to reach Taksim.
In a move that has disappointed many in the labour movement, DİSK, KESK, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), and TMMOB announced they will mark May Day in Kadıköy, across the Bosphorus on the Asian side of the city. The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) have also aligned with that call.
CHP leader Özgür Özel, who previously pledged to fight for access to Taksim, defended the change of plans by saying, “If unions say Kadıköy, then we say Kadıköy.” Critics have circulated past footage of Özel promising that “If they don’t open Taksim, we will.”
Activists say May Day 2025 will test not only the government’s willingness to tolerate dissent but also the unity and resolve of Turkey’s fractured opposition and labour front.
