The resistance of three workers who were unlawfully dismissed from Beltur, a subsidiary of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), has entered its 39th day. The action is organized by DISK Revolutionary Tourism Workers’ Union (Dev Turizm-İş). While being strung along by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the IBB administration with vague promises like “You are right, we stand with labor,” the workers have also been pressured to resign and give up their severance pay in order to have the Code 26 label removed from their records. For the past two days, they have been staging a sit-in protest inside the Beltur facility in Mecidiyeköy. Two of the three workers, Cihan Yıldız and Yıldırım Salih İnce, the union’s Education and Organizing Officer, spoke to ANF about the ongoing struggle.
They criticized the union that betrayed the contract and were fired under Code 26
Cihan Yıldız, a father of three who has been working at Beltur for 13 years, stated that his years of labor were cast aside simply because he criticized the passive stance of TOLEYİŞ, a union affiliated with the Turkish Confederation of Labor Unions (Türk-İş), in a WhatsApp group created by Beltur workers. Yıldız, who had most recently worked at Beltur’s Gazhane facility in the Hasanpaşa neighborhood of Kadıköy, shared the following: “Since TOLEYİŞ is the authorized union at Beltur, they were the ones who sat at the table during the collective bargaining agreement in June. Even though the process dragged on for months, the union had already declared it would not call a strike. This refusal to strike only strengthened the employer’s hand. We were already upset with the union, but things got even worse. They signed an agreement well below the wage levels they had promised not to go under, and on top of that, they accepted terms that extended our working hours. Our daily working hours were increased by one and a half hours. Previously, we completed 40 hours over six days. But according to the new contract they signed, we now have to finish 40 hours in five days and work a mandatory sixth day as overtime. We were discussing all of this with fellow workers in a WhatsApp group. Apparently, a union representative we didn’t notice was in that group. He likely took screenshots and reported them. Once workers began to raise their voices against this agreement, I believe the union asked Beltur to silence those voices. And so it happened. You know that infamous saying: ‘Hang three of them in Taksim Square, and no one else will dare speak again’, well, in this case, it became: ‘Fire three of them, and the rest will stay quiet.’ And the three workers who were chosen for dismissal just happened to be members of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK).”
They infiltrated the workers’ group and summoned them to disciplinary board
After messages shared in the WhatsApp group came to light, Yıldız said that Beltur management summoned them to appear before a disciplinary board. He emphasized that the only topic discussed during the session was the content of those messages. Stressing that communication between workers and unions is protected by law and should not be interfered with by employers, Yıldız said: “We reminded them that employers are legally prohibited from intervening in any dialogue between workers and their union. But they flatly refused to accept that. They said, ‘We received personnel complaints, that’s why we called you in.’ I asked to see those complaint letters, but they had nothing. They never showed us a single document. The truth is, we were summoned solely because of the WhatsApp conversations and the very next day, I was fired without any justification through a phone call from the Deputy General Manager of Human Resources. Later, a formal notice arrived via notary, informing me that I had been dismissed under Code 26. Code 26 is a severe provision; it includes allegations like insulting or threatening supervisors, refusing to carry out duties, or encouraging others to do the same. We were dismissed based on ridiculous accusations, with no evidence, no witnesses, and no legal foundation at all.”
Code-based blackmail: Resign and give up your severance pay
Yıldız stated that he believes their dismissal was carried out through collaboration between Beltur’s Human Resources Director and the authorized union. In response to this injustice and illegality, he recalled that they launched their resistance under the leadership of the Revolutionary Tourism Workers’ Union, affiliated with the DISK. He noted that although the General Manager of Beltur, the leadership of the IBB, and the provincial branch of the CHP all admitted the workers were right, no genuine effort, initiative, or solution has been offered. In fact, during their last meeting with Beltur, he said they were subjected to what he openly described as blackmail.
Yıldız said, “They summoned us to a meeting under the guise of negotiation and told us that in order to have Code 26 removed from our records, we would need to resign. Code 26 is a very serious label. With it, we cannot be employed in any municipal subsidiary or state institution. I was even denied unemployment benefits by the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) because of this code. As if firing us under such a code were not enough, they demanded our resignation and that we forfeit our severance pay in exchange for removing the code. They said we would be placed into IBB’s labor pool, which reportedly includes 10 to 15 thousand people and that maybe one day, if something came up, we might be offered a job. We did not even see this as a proposal; it was nothing short of an insult. And after that insult, we made it clear that we would continue our protests.”
Rights, law, and justice seem to apply only to those at the top
Yıldız, who has been staging a sit-in protest inside the Beltur facility in Mecidiyeköy for two days to demand reinstatement after being dismissed unlawfully, stated that they would not back down until their demands are met. A father of three, he emphasized that he was fired under a job code that makes it nearly impossible to find new employment, simply because he criticized the union. He directed harsh criticism at the CHP leadership and said: “They talk about rights, but they want us to give up ours. They talk about the rule of law, yet they dismiss us in clear violation of it. They talk about justice, but when we say they are the very authority that should restore our rights and hold those responsible for this injustice accountable, they suddenly play deaf, dumb, and blind. It seems that rights, law, and justice only apply to those at the top, not to workers. We will never accept this. We will resist to the very end for our jobs and our rights.”
The man behind the deadlock is Ekrem Imamoğlu’s advisor Yiğit Oğuz Duman
Yıldırım Salih İnce, Education and Organizing Officer of the Revolutionary Tourism Workers’ Union, which has been leading the Beltur workers’ resistance for 40 days, described the entire process as something “straight out of an Aziz Nesin story.” Ince stated that everyone they met from the IBB and the leadership of the CHP acknowledged the legitimacy of the workers’ demands and expressed their support for labor. He continued: “Well then, if you stand with labor and say we are right, who exactly fired us? There are only two possibilities: either the people telling us they support us are lying, or there is someone more powerful than them who is insisting this injustice must continue. If they really are on the side of workers, then someone else, someone they cannot overrule, must be blocking the solution. According to what we’ve heard, that person is Yiğit Oğuz Duman, the advisor to Ekrem Imamoğlu who oversees human resources and personnel affairs across all municipal subsidiaries. In every meeting and communication we’ve had, the trail led back to him. After the protest at the Gazhane facility, we were told: ‘Alright, we promise, we’ll resolve this injustice, let’s talk.’ A series of meetings followed. Concrete plans were drawn up. The wages owed to our friends were calculated. It reached that point. And then once again, the process was halted, by the same person: Yiğit Oğuz Duman. Everyone we’ve met says they support us. But clearly, their words carry no weight with Yiğit Oğuz Duman.”
If they care about rights, law, and justice, they should start by educating Duman
Yıldırım Salih İnce pointed out that the fact Yiğit Oğuz Duman has become the symbol of deadlock is a striking contradiction, and said it clearly reveals that authority within the IBB has been handed to someone who does not stand with labor. “Then where are rights, law, and justice?” he asked and continued: “Instead of turning ‘rights, law, and justice’ into empty slogans for the public, they should come to IBB and start by giving Yiğit Oğuz Duman some education on what rights, law, and justice actually mean. If someone cannot grasp these values, they should not be working in this municipality. These are the kinds of people doing the most harm to the institution. Look, this municipality itself was subjected to injustice. During that process, we went to Saraçhane multiple times. Friends from our union were arrested. Many were taken into custody. That was an injustice. It was a coup attempt against the municipality, against the will of the people. And we stood by their side during that time. But now, everything they once criticized is happening inside IBB. Everything they claimed to oppose, they are now doing themselves.”
They are disturbed by a union that fights back
Yıldırım Salih İnce stated that the issue has gone beyond the matter of dismissal and has now turned into open hostility toward the union. He said that all three workers who were unlawfully fired are members of the DISK. He underlined that there is a clear discomfort with a union that actively resists: “They are disturbed by a union that defends rights, law, and justice. A political party that claims to stand for justice, a municipality that itself has suffered injustice, but when it comes to the actual perpetrator of injustice, they cannot confront him. How powerful is this man Yiğit Oğuz Duman, really? This nonsense has to stop. A clear stance must be taken, because we cannot make sense of a situation where one person cannot be challenged. No single individual should hold this much power. One of the CHP major criticisms is against one-man rule. So what exactly is happening here? This too is one-man rule. You cannot claim to be an alternative to power by acting just like the power you criticize. And with their most recent move, demanding our resignation and forfeiture of severance pay in exchange for removing Code 26, it has reached a level of complete absurdity. They need to end this absurdity now.”
Source: ANF News
