[fse-esf] Turkey: Heading for a historical 1st of May

[Alp Altinors]

 Massive preparation for the 1st of May amidst threats of the Prime Minister
 
ENGLISH (23.04.2008)- Turkey is on the brink of a historical 1st of May event. Three main labor confederations Turk-Is, DISK and KESK made the call for a 500 thousand strong massive meeting in the Taksim Square. The neoliberal AKP government claimed that they won’t give permission for the Taksim Square. 
 
Tension is growing in the country as the neoliberal Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan threatened the workers with intervening in the 1st of May. The government made a reunion on Monday, with the 1st of May on agenda. They discussed two topics: 
-Whether 1st of May will be an official holiday or not (Mayday is not officially recognized in Turkey)
-The position of the government regarding the attempt of the main labor unions to celebrate the 1st of May in the ‘forbidden’ Taksim Square. (Turkey is a country where the state applies the policy of ‘forbidden’ squares to diminish the publicity of popular mass actions.)
 
The government spokesman Cemil Cicek declared after the meeting that AKP Government decided:
-Neither to amend the day as a holliday, nor as an official fest, but only as an official ‘day’ of Labor and Solidarity. (He told that the cost of a ‘holliday’ would be 2 million YTLs (1.5 million $). 
-Not to allow a gathering in the Taksim Square.
 
The first point is of crucial importance, since the 1st of May was an official holliday (under the name of Spring Fest) until the military coup d’etat of 12 September 1980. The claim of the government was in fact a confession that the Septemberist order had been stealing from the workers 2 million YTL’s each year since the coup.
 
The second point is even more important, since last year in the 1st of May massive confrontations among the workers and the police took place in the Taksim Square. DISK and KESK, together with revolutionary party and platforms (ESP, HÖC, DHP, among many) leftist political parties (ÖDP, TKP, among many) organized a 1st of May event in the Taksim Square despite heavy police repression. Hundreds of werkers were wounded, tortured, teargased by the police. Gas bombs reserve of the police expired as Taksim turned into a big gasroom. 1 resident of Taksim died as a result of heavy gas bombing. At the end, around 10 thousand of workers and youth managed to enter the occupied Taksim square and this was a historical popular victory.
 
Erdogan: The feet shall not rule the head
 
Prime Minister of the AKP Government, the pseudo-democrat neoliberal reactionary Tayyip Erdogan went further in his public statement for denouncing the attempt of Taksim Mayday and claimed that “If the feet try to rule the head, this will cause the doomsday.” 
 
“The legal squares for mass gatherings are certain. Taksim is not such a square. If they insist on making the meeting in Taksim, the local authorities will not approach to this attitude positively”, he said.
 
This is the same Erdoğan, who made countless speeches over “democracy” and “popular will” after the prohibition case opened against his party AKP in the Supreme Court. He showed how ‘democrat’ he is and the class character of his government with this speech. Erdoğan is a strong collaborator of US and EU imperialists and under his government, the economy is directly ruled by the IMF. Despite the economy grew each year, the unemployment remained around %20 and tens of millions of people live under the poverty line. His government had passed a new neoliberal law about social security and health, despite strikes and mass protests of the workers.
 
The labor unions denounced this speech and claimed that the Prime Minister will see the response of ‘the feet’ on the 1st of May, in Taksim.
 
The importance of Taksim Square
 
Taksim Square is the center of Istanbul. It was a mass meetings center before the 1980 military coup. On the 1st of May 1976, 1977 and 1978 gigantic worker-toiler meetings were held in the Taksim Square. On 1977, a counter-guerilla massacre was done in the 1st of May meeting, in which 500 thousand people attended. Snipers began shooting from the rooftops and police panzers were driven on the mass to grow the panic. As a result totally 34 workers fell martyr (5 by bullets, and the rest result of squeezing). 1st of May meetings were prohibited after 1978. 
 
On 1988, 1989 and 1990, massive initiatives appeared to take back the Taksim Square. 1 worker was killed and one woman student was shot and paralised. 
 
With 500 thousand cloves
 
This year, DİSK and KESK, together with Türk-İş (which is bigger than the first two) are organizing a massive 1st of May in the Taksim Square. They made the call for “500 thousand workers to come to Taksim with cloves in their hands”. 
 
All the labor organizations, professional associations, leftist political parties and revolutionary-communist organizations and parties are calling for the Taksim meeting. 
 
However the consequences may be, it is already certain that this will be a historical 1st of May event.
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