Jigs
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Thursday, February 3, 2011
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Nearly 10,000 workers protesting in Ankara on Thursday were pushed back with water cannons and pepper spray, a move the opposition said ran counter to the government’s call for a peaceful response to demonstrators in Egypt.
Workers throughout the country descended on the capital to protest a bill they say reduces their rights as part of a mass demonstration organize by various Turkish unions. Their goal was to create a human chain around the Parliament building to show their opposition to new employment legislation currently being debated at the General Assembly.
Interior Minister Beşir Atalay and Ankara Gov. Alaatin Yüksel had warned protesters not to initiate the rally, as they did not have legal permission to gather. If they insisted on doing so, the officials said, security forces would intervene.
Accompanied by more than 30 opposition deputies, the protesters convened in Ankara’s Kurtuluş district in the early hours of the day before beginning to march on Parliament. Police blocked Atatürk Boulevard, the main road to the building, and warned them not to try to proceed further.
At this point, deputies with the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, led by Istanbul deputy Çetin Soysal, began negotiating with the police chiefs and then with Atalay, who agreed the group could march only another 500 meters. When the protesters insisted on proceeding toward the Parliament, police met them with water cannons and pepper spray. Workers responded to the security forces by hurling sticks, stones and eggs.
Some protesters, including both CHP deputies and workers, were mildly affected by the pepper gas. The demonstrators withdrew to the Kurtuluş district, where they ended the protest.
Members of the CHP criticized the use of police force against the demonstrators, saying it contradicted with the Turkish government’s vocal call for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to heed the demand of protesters in his country and step down without violence.
“The prime minister called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to listen his people’s demands. However, to make his advice admissible, he should practice his own advice within Turkey,” CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu wrote Wednesday in a message on the social-networking website Twitter.
The legislation the workers were protesting is among what is known as the “omnibus law,” which includes nearly 200 articles on different issues. If passed, the legislation would allow employers to relocate some workers against their will, make workers, not employers, financially responsible for health-benefit premiums and allow employers to hire interns and apprentices for four months without pay. Trade unions say the changes would also give the government leeway to use a special fund designed to fight unemployment for other purposes. Thursday’s protest was organized by the Confederation of Progressive Workers’ Unions, or DİSK, the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, the Turkish Union of Engineers’ and Architects’ Chambers, or TMMOB, and the Turkish Medical Association, or TTB.
‘Heed Turkish people’s demand’
“Don’t omit the demands of the people. Don’t block the walk of workers,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Criticizing the police’s use of force against workers, the CHP chief urged the government to recognize that repressing people’s demands would cause social upheaval. “The government, which is suppressing people, is backing people in another country. It should do it in Turkey as well,” he said, calling on Erdoğan to communicate with the protesting workers.
“I hope the prime minister and interior minister are watching these scenes,” said Muharrem İnce, a CHP deputy who supported the protesters Thursday. “The government, which does not allow its people to march, says the people marching in Egypt are demonstrating their democratic reactions. Turkey has become a fascist state, a [one] party state.”
Recalling Erdoğan’s strong statement to the Egyptian president, CHP deputy parliamentary group leader Akif Hamzaçebi said: “Thousands of workers came to Ankara. I call on the prime minister to give them an ear.”
“Police sprayed pepper gas and water cannons at thousands of protesters,” Ufuk Uras, a deputy from the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, who also attended Thursday’s demonstrations, told reporters. “Is this your perception of freedom? You don’t have a democratic culture and you won’t have one at this rate.”
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Nearly 10,000 workers protesting in Ankara on Thursday were pushed back with water cannons and pepper spray, a move the opposition said ran counter to the government’s call for a peaceful response to demonstrators in Egypt.
Workers throughout the country descended on the capital to protest a bill they say reduces their rights as part of a mass demonstration organize by various Turkish unions. Their goal was to create a human chain around the Parliament building to show their opposition to new employment legislation currently being debated at the General Assembly.
Interior Minister Beşir Atalay and Ankara Gov. Alaatin Yüksel had warned protesters not to initiate the rally, as they did not have legal permission to gather. If they insisted on doing so, the officials said, security forces would intervene.
Accompanied by more than 30 opposition deputies, the protesters convened in Ankara’s Kurtuluş district in the early hours of the day before beginning to march on Parliament. Police blocked Atatürk Boulevard, the main road to the building, and warned them not to try to proceed further.
At this point, deputies with the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, led by Istanbul deputy Çetin Soysal, began negotiating with the police chiefs and then with Atalay, who agreed the group could march only another 500 meters. When the protesters insisted on proceeding toward the Parliament, police met them with water cannons and pepper spray. Workers responded to the security forces by hurling sticks, stones and eggs.
Some protesters, including both CHP deputies and workers, were mildly affected by the pepper gas. The demonstrators withdrew to the Kurtuluş district, where they ended the protest.
Members of the CHP criticized the use of police force against the demonstrators, saying it contradicted with the Turkish government’s vocal call for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to heed the demand of protesters in his country and step down without violence.
“The prime minister called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to listen his people’s demands. However, to make his advice admissible, he should practice his own advice within Turkey,” CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu wrote Wednesday in a message on the social-networking website Twitter.
The legislation the workers were protesting is among what is known as the “omnibus law,” which includes nearly 200 articles on different issues. If passed, the legislation would allow employers to relocate some workers against their will, make workers, not employers, financially responsible for health-benefit premiums and allow employers to hire interns and apprentices for four months without pay. Trade unions say the changes would also give the government leeway to use a special fund designed to fight unemployment for other purposes. Thursday’s protest was organized by the Confederation of Progressive Workers’ Unions, or DİSK, the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, the Turkish Union of Engineers’ and Architects’ Chambers, or TMMOB, and the Turkish Medical Association, or TTB.
‘Heed Turkish people’s demand’
“Don’t omit the demands of the people. Don’t block the walk of workers,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Criticizing the police’s use of force against workers, the CHP chief urged the government to recognize that repressing people’s demands would cause social upheaval. “The government, which is suppressing people, is backing people in another country. It should do it in Turkey as well,” he said, calling on Erdoğan to communicate with the protesting workers.
“I hope the prime minister and interior minister are watching these scenes,” said Muharrem İnce, a CHP deputy who supported the protesters Thursday. “The government, which does not allow its people to march, says the people marching in Egypt are demonstrating their democratic reactions. Turkey has become a fascist state, a [one] party state.”
Recalling Erdoğan’s strong statement to the Egyptian president, CHP deputy parliamentary group leader Akif Hamzaçebi said: “Thousands of workers came to Ankara. I call on the prime minister to give them an ear.”
“Police sprayed pepper gas and water cannons at thousands of protesters,” Ufuk Uras, a deputy from the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, who also attended Thursday’s demonstrations, told reporters. “Is this your perception of freedom? You don’t have a democratic culture and you won’t have one at this rate.”
