The Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK) held rallies in the Diyarbakır (Amed) and İzmir provinces of Turkey, protesting against the economic policies of the government and demanding fair salaries.
Turkey’s minimum wage for 2022 was announced by Turkey’s president Erdoğan on Thursday to be 4,250 Turkish liras (TL).
Although this is an increase of 50%, the TL continues to lose value against foreign currencies and people in Turkey are getting poorer each day.
Thousands attended to the rally in İzmir’s Gündoğdu Square which the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions (DISK), the Union of Turkish Engineers and Architects Chambers (TMMOB) and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and İzmir Bar Association also supported.
The rally in Diyarbakır was held in Station Square and organised by KESK, DISK, TMMOB and TTB.
Several people from the surrounding provinces also attended the rally in Diyarbakır. Some people carried placards in Kurdish that read “Em Birçine” (“We are hungry”).
The rally demanded that the rights of workers must be protected in the face of rising costs of living and the economic crisis, that people must be provided with conditions in which to live humanely, that education and services must be provided in public institutions in the mother language, and that the decree laws (Kanun Hükmünde Kararnameliler – KHK’s) that led to the dismissal of many people from their jobs should be cancelled.
A protest was held also by several NGO’s and political parties yesterday in Bakırköy district of Istanbul.
“Let’s unite and take action,” “You will be held to account in the streets, not in the ballot boxes,” “Long live class solidarity,” chanted people in Istanbul who were protesting against the government.
