Turkish PM Yıldırım accuses workers for occupational murders

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım charged working people for occupational murders in his speech at Occupational Health Congress
Monday, 07 May 2018 22:53

 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım stated at the 9th International Occupational Health Safety Congress in İstanbul that 80-85% of occupational murders were due to human error.

Saying that he spent a large portion of his life at shipyards, Yıldırım claimed that they were “tired of repeatedly telling the workers to wear helmets”. Yıldırım also said that “the thread is lost” in the regulations made to take precautions. “Regulations that pass in a reacting manner might cause inextricable problems in business life,” Yıldırım maintained.

In the 15 years between 2002 and 2017, when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was in power, 20,000 people were killed in occupational murders. The number rockets to 140,000 when deaths by occupational illnesses are added. 575 people were killed in occupational murders in the first 4 months of 2018.

The policies of Turkey’s ruling capitalist class towards “growth” in the last 15 years were the main factor in occupational murders. Capitalists’ practice of having more work done by fewer people with less cost enlarges the safety gap, causing more risk in working places – especially in those included in faster-growing sectors such as metal, construction, and transportation.

Suicide rates among the working class of Turkey are also high. Dozens of unassigned teachers committed suicide in past years. Nabi Avcı, then Minister of Education, had said in 2016 that teachers committed suicide to “draw attention”.

Suicide is at extraordinary rates among healthcare workers, as well. It was explained by Murat Emir, a medical doctor and deputy of the parliamentary opposition Republican People’s Party, explained that 431 healthcare workers have committed suicide in the past 3 years.