The five-day mission’s aims are: to visit unjustly imprisoned trade union leaders; meet with and gather information from the ITF’s eight Turkish unions and one union association; to visit members of the TÜMTİS union at their picket line in front of DHL Express in Istanbul; and to meet with officials of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, and the Ministry of Justice.
The three-strong team is made up of: Noel Coard, head of ITF inland transport sections; Liz Blackshaw, ITF campaigns director; and Deniz Akdogan, senior section assistant, ITF inland transport sections.
ITF president Paddy Crumlin explained: “This is the latest in a series of ITF delegations to Turkey in recent years. These have investigated conditions for trade unionists there, provided succor and support for our falsely imprisoned colleagues, and sought to convince the government to abide by its international obligations to respect core labour rights, including the right to freedom of association.”
He concluded: “The Turkish government is aware that we’re not going away. On behalf of our Turkish members we continue to hold it to account in international forums. This delegation will, once again, be offering dialogue to the government – while remaining unyielding on the need for justice and legality to be upheld for all those people in Turkey experiencing repression and victimisation because of their lawful activities.”
A further press release will follow updating on the mission’s progress.
