Great tension at construction site of İstanbul's third airport following presidential visit

Authorities the construction site of Istanbul's third airport are rushing to complete certain parts of the airport before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s expected visit at the end of February
Tuesday, 13 February 2018 06:23

Tensions have been rising again at the construction site of the massive airport in İstanbul. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to visit the construction site at the end of this month, while authorities responsible for the construction of the airport are worried about the Erdoğan's anger if they are unable to complete an important part of it before the visit.

The project has drawn continuous controversy due to the deforestation it has been causing, continuous occupational murders in the construction zone and workers' protests at poor working conditions.    

The tension due to Erdoğan’s visit poses a major threat to workers at the construction site of the third airport, where unplanned work has already been the primary reason for occupational murders.

Workers are being forced to work long hours in poor conditions to complete this important area, and thus Erdoğan's visit has become a nightmare for them.

Tens of thousands of subcontracted workers working under 1500 firms are employed for the third airport project, which ranges over an enormous area.

soL News interviewed the workers at the construction site, and workers confirmed that very little of the poor conditions they face in this huge area is reflected in the mainstream media.

More than 1500 workers had blocked the roads to protest bad working conditions at the airport construction in previous days.

Speaking to soL news, workers said that "The biggest murderers of workers are capitalist employers", while one of the workers stated, "The media should report occupational murders! Two workers died here at the same time, but no one has reported anything about them!"

"Although there are ambulances in almost every point of the airport construction, the routes of the ambulances are blocked by construction," a worker said, and added: "At least 40 minutes is required to reach an injured worker in the event of an accident in the construction zone."