Turkish strikers oppose war drive by Cem Izmirli Turkey is now involved in the Gulf War with the roar of US warplanes leaving Incirlik air base every day on bombing sorties to Iraq. Soon a 200,000 strong Turkish army could be engaged in a land offensive on Iraq's northern border. However as in Egypt and Syria, the Turkish govemment's determination to drag its people into this war is in conflict with popular opinion.
In January, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated for peace in Istanbul and Iskenderun, and in every major province on 25 and 26 January.
Clashes with police and troops are still going on in which the police are reported to have opened fire on crowds, killing at least one man and injuring many. Details of this recent uprising have been suppressed by the current censorship in the British media.
The peculiarity of the anti-war opposition in Turkey is its class character: unlike the religion-inspired movements throughout the Middle East, it has emerged out of a wave of industrial action by workers.
There was of course a significant anti-war feeling and an opposition to the government's warmongering role from the very beginning of the Gulf crisis, within every layer of society. which was expressed even by the far-right president's right wing rival, Süleyman Demirel: "Our president is turing us into an American aircraft carrier"
There had also been anti-imperialist student unrest since November last year when a sixteen year old girl was arrested and threatened with 24 years imprisonment for writing anti-war slogans on a school wall. But these initial responses to the imperialist war drive spread around the country to develop into a mass movement only after 48,000 miners in Zonguldak went on strike on Ist December in the biggest all-out industrial action in Turkey since the 1980 coup d'état.
The miners main demand was for a decent living wage. Average monthly camings are currently 400,000 lira (E70), even lower than those of South African miners who are considered to be one of the most oppressed and exploited sections of the world proletariat. They also demand safety in mines, where three thousand have died in accidents over the last 10 years. The average life expectancy of a Zonguldak miner is 47 years.
President Ozal's initial response to the miners" demands was very similar to that of Page 10
GULF SPECIAL EKMEK VE DEMOKRASI IÇIN….. MADENCİ DİRENİYOR DIRENECEK
A victory for one is a victory for all Thatcher's hard line against the British miners' strike in 1984. He denounced the action as being illegal and threatened pit closures. About 10,000 troops and police have been sent in from other provinces.
The Miners are not alone!
However this provocative position has only deepened the unpopularity of the government and of Ozal in particular, and solidarity with the miners' strike has quickly become a symbol for political opposition. Nearly all of Turkey's two million unionised workers boycotted work on January 3, ignoring the constitutional ban on general strikes and solidarity strikes imposed by the Generals in 1983.
With workers shouting slogans of "the miners are not alone" and "no to war" , this was effectively the first general strike in the country's history. By that time 120,000 metal workers had already begun striking with demands similar to those of the miners.
On January 4, 100,000 people left the Black Sea coal mining town of Zonguldak to embark on a march to the Capital to protest against the government's anti-labour position. After three days on the road, the strikers, their wives and children had travelled 100 kilometres and had reached the trans-Turkey motorway.
Here, however, hundreds of riot police and troops backed by water cannons and bulldozers blocked the way. For two days the miners attempted to pass peacefully but were repulsed. Security forces arrested 326 miners and refused to allow some supplies through to feed the huge mass of protesters. After another night out on the freezing mountainside, it seemed the miners either had to enter into a violent clash with security forces or retum to Zonguldak. They decided on a "tactical retreat" - as they call it - and marched back to Zonguldak, but their strike continues
with support from workers and trade unions all around the world.
These new workers' actions have also mobilised Turkish and Kurdish communities in Europe and Britain in solidarity actions. Kurdish and Turkish workers in London boycotted work on January 3 in coordination with the one day general strike in turkey.
Turkish shops in Hackney also refused to open in defiant action of solidarity. This strike action was brutally attacked by the local police. Sixty strikers were arrested and eight hospitalised. Turkish and Kurdish people in London were attacked later that day outside the notorious Stoke Newington police station where they were demanding the release of those arrested.
A Solidarity committee with Striking Miners of Turkey has been set up in London to build solidarity between British workers and the lab