The Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK) has launched a march demanding the reinstatement of public sector workers who were dismissed by state decree laws (KHK) and the restoration of democratic rights. The march began on 13 October in Diyarbakır (Amed) and will end on 17 October in front of the Parliament in Ankara. The march is advancing towards Ankara from six different branches: Diyarbakır, Urfa (Riha), Adana, Mersin, Gaziantep (Dîlok) and Adıyaman (Semsûr). KESK most recently made a public statement in Adıyaman and announced that the march continues.
Democracy was shelved after 2016
KESK co-chair Ayfer Koçak spoke to ANF about the reasons and objectives of the march and said: “Even before the state decree laws, there were problems with democracy in this country. We have never lived in a country with high democratic standards. However, starting in 2016, we entered a period in which democracy was completely shelved, and legal processes were no longer applied. This process, launched through the decree laws, deepened with the trustee policy imposed on municipalities governed by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the Kurdish provinces. The reality continues: elected officials are imprisoned, political prisoners are still being held like captives, and the will of the people expressed at the ballot box is being ignored.”
Koçak stated that the decree laws were not limited to dismissals and that a systematic policy of exclusion was implemented through job interviews and security clearances, blocking access to the public sector.
She also drew attention to the pressure on press freedom and recalled that the rights of shut-down television channels, newspapers and magazines have still not been restored.
Koçak spoke about the growing economic inequality and said the widening income gap has pushed public workers into poverty.
Ayfer Koçak said: “At that time, 4,800 of our members were dismissed. But this is not the only issue. After the decree laws, anyone who was in opposition or did not pledge loyalty lost the chance to work in the public sector, as did their children and young people. Interviews and security clearances became part of a system that prioritises loyalty over merit in public employment. For example, during the 19 March protests, university students clearly expressed this: after years of education, they are forced to seek a future abroad.
Today, our retired colleagues are condemned to live on less than half of the hunger threshold. Most workers are trying to survive on the minimum wage. While the number of millionaires in Turkey is increasing, large segments of society are becoming poorer. While the global average increase in millionaires is 1.2 percent, in Turkey it is 8 percent. This is a direct result of authoritarianism and anti-democratic practices. Public workers are being impoverished and oppressed.”
Another dimension of the march is the demand for peace
Ayfer Koçak said that the conflict that resumed after the collapse of the peace process ten years ago has directly affected workers and society. Koçak stated that the march organised by KESK is not only a response to past rights violations but is also based on a vision for democracy and peace for the future. She summarized this vision as follows: “The peace process was a great source of hope for all of us. Because we know that war affects workers the most. The young people who lose their lives are the children of the poor. We lost thousands of our young people in this process. We lost our members and our comrades in the massacre of 10 October. This pain is still very fresh. Our march today is also a way of expressing our insistence on peace.
True peace can only be achieved when the people take ownership of the process, when freedoms are recognised, and when democracy is strengthened. With this march, we are demanding not only the reinstatement of our colleagues dismissed by decree, but also the rebuilding of democracy in this country. We believe that peace must be built on the basis of the people. Because where the people are excluded, even if one field of conflict ends, another will always emerge.”