Ertuğrul Mavioğlu
May Day, known as International Workers’ Day, has always been met with inconsistent, hypocritical, and ultimately oppressive policies by the fascist Turkish state. For instance, the same state that declared 1 May a legal workers’ holiday in 1923, banned mass demonstrations the following year in 1924.
In 1925, the enforcement of the Takrir-i Sükun Law completely prohibited the celebration of the workers’ holiday, a ban that persisted for many years. Additionally, in 1935, the state attempted to erase 1 May from history by renaming it ‘Spring Festival’. This narrative was embedded in schools for decades, promoting picnics in the countryside as part of the educational curriculum until 1976.
The first mass celebration of 1 May in many years took place in 1976 at Istanbul’s Taksim Square. The size of the gathering alarmed both the capitalist class and the state. Consequently, the 1977 May Day rally in Taksim, much larger than the previous year’s, was marred by a planned attack orchestrated by the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) and the counter-guerrilla, resulting in gunfire on the crowd. By the end of the day, Taksim Square saw 37 dead and hundreds injured.
The last celebration of 1 May in Taksim before the military coup of 12 September 1980, occurred in 1978. After a massacre in Maraş on 24 December 1978, martial law was declared in 14 provinces, including Istanbul. In 1979, under the fascist MC government, a curfew was imposed in Istanbul on 1 May. Despite this, Behice Boran, the leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, and her colleagues announced they would march towards Taksim, only to be brutally suppressed by the police. Many were savagely beaten and detained.
After the 12 September coup, Taksim celebrations were banned until 1987, during which individual actions rather than mass celebrations marked May Day. The fascist junta had closed the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), tortured and imprisoned many trade unionists, students and workers. The oppression continued until 1987 when workers started to shake off the chaos caused by fascist attacks with the first strikes at NETAŞ and Derby factories post-coup.
Yet, the confidence and strength to take to the streets on May Day were not fully regained until 1987, when it was celebrated in a cinema in Beyoğlu. In 1988, a march led by revolutionary organisations aimed at reaching Taksim was met with police violence at the entrance to the square, resulting in 85 detentions and numerous injuries. In 1989, Taksim was off-limits again, and groups attempting to enter the area were attacked by the police, leading to the death of a young worker, Mehmet Akif Dalcı, who was shot by the police. The officer responsible, named Kazım Çakmakçı, was later punished by the Revolutionary Left organisation.
Despite the ban, many who tried to celebrate 1 May in 1990 were detained before they could even reach the area. On the same day, near the Kurtuluş district close to Taksim, Gülay Beceren, a young woman, was shot by the police and ended up wheelchair-bound after her surgeries. In 1991, May Day celebrations in Taksim were again forbidden, and police attacked various gatherings throughout the city, with many detentions.
From 1992 to 2006, trade unions paused their insistence on Taksim and organised legal May Days in other squares such as Çağlayan and Maltepe. However, the fascist Turkish state’s intolerance for mass celebrations was evident on 1 May 1996, when police attacked a May Day rally in Kadıköy, resulting in three deaths. Following this, Kadıköy too was banned from May Day demonstrations.
Between 2007 and 2009, attempts to gather in Taksim were met with police tear gas and rubber bullets, resulting in thousands of detentions and injuries. In 2010, resistance paid off, and over one hundred thousand people overcame all obstacles to celebrate 1 May in Taksim. The tradition continued in 2011 and 2012.
In 2013, the fascist government closed Taksim to May Day celebrations again, citing a pedestrianisation project. Attempts by workers to enter the area were met with police violence, leaving many injured and detained, a pattern that continued annually. The Gezi Park protests in June 2013 erupted against these prohibitions.
For 11 years since then, Taksim has remained closed to May Day celebrations, allowing only concerts and nationalist demonstrations, while workers’ celebrations are forbidden. Thus, May Days in Turkey have been built upon state oppression and the resistance of the people, distinguishing them almost entirely from the rest of the world.
Despite the blood shed by the state in Taksim Square, the dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries and thousands of detentions, the sustained grand struggle has endowed the square with a symbolic identity for the oppressed masses. Taksim Square has become an indispensable bastion of resistance that must never be surrendered. Moreover, following numerous applications by labour organisations, including DİSK and KESK, the Constitutional Court ruled on 15 December 2023 that the ban imposed on Taksim Square by the government constituted a violation of rights.
Despite the Constitutional Court ruling on 15 December 2023, that the ban on May Day celebrations in Taksim was a violation of rights, the fascist AKP-MHP government continues its prohibitive policies.
Labour organisations, symbolically bloodstained and united in grief, remain determined to protect this battleground of resistance. On May Day, despite all suppressions, they will remind the fascist AKP-MHP government of the lesson taught in the local elections of 31 March. They will confront the government’s war and plunder policies, which have plunged millions into poverty and hunger, with their cries rising from the squares. They will champion peace against genocidal policies towards Kurds, freedom against captivity and workers’ rights against capital.
* Ertuğrul Mavioğlu is a journalist and author. He was imprisoned from 1980 to 1991 for opposing the 1980 military coup. Mavioğlu has been active in journalism since 1985 and has published eight books. He faces ongoing legal challenges over his 2013 documentary ‘Bakur’, filmed in Kurdish guerrilla camps. His latest work, ‘Bakur Notes’, was released in 2013.
