On October 11, an explosion at Turkish oil refinery Tüpraş, which is owned by Koç Industrial holding company, killed four workers and wounded one worker.
Having been one of the biggest public entities in Turkey, Tüpraş was privatised in 2006 and transferred to Koç holding, a leading capitalist group that increased its rates of profit particularly during the rule of Justice and Development Party.
Turkey’s capitalist class' passion for profit underlies the murder of four workers. The picture of occupational murders becomes more apparent considering that the capitalist companies ignore the occupational safety rules whilst increasing their rates of profit six times in a year.
soL News talked with two workers, an operation and an engineer, about the explosion and the working conditions at Tüpraş refinery in the western Turkish town of Aliağa.
Responding the question how to discuss the process prior to the tank explosion that killed workers, the operator said, "The incident was 'coming soon'. Everyone at the refinery says they fall short their works. Although we convey this message through the trade union and refinery chiefs, they impose overworking instead of increasing the number of personnel."
Saying that this is not the first incident they have faced, the engineer says the workers had to take their leave days without proper isolation works at the refinery. "In some cases, the authorities took the responsibility for maintaining working despite the rejections of specialists on occupational safety," the engineer continued, adding that they had a narrow escape by luck in all that cases when some small-scaled fires or explosions took place.
'KOÇ FAMILY IS CUNNING ALTHOUGH EVERYTHING SEEMS AS IF PERFECT'
In answer to why no readjustment was carried out despite repetitious incidents, the engineer said: "The Koç family is so cunning. Everything seems perfect if you look at the standards and rules. However, neither a personnel is available to implement those rules properly nor a designation for such an implementation. For instance, the duration of maintenance depends on the scale of the job. A minimum time span is necessary for a good-quality and safe job. However, at Tüpraş, the maintenance duration is planned on the basis of costs. Because these durations are very short, occupational safety and quality are ignored all the time."
The engineer adds what he means with "quality", indicating to the need of proper and good materials for healthy units at the refinery although the company uses poor quality materials so as to reduce the costs.
The operator agrees with the engineer, giving an example from his unit at the refinery: "There are valves and machines reading 'CCCP' in my unit. They were installed during the Soviet Union era. While these 40-year-old valves work properly, the new ones break down only in 2 years. This situation may lead to safety problems."
TURKEY'S TOP CAPITALIST KOÇ GROUP'S LIES ABOUT EXPLOSION
Talking about the moment of explosion at the Tüpraş refinery, the operators say he was at the refinery during the explosion, and heard the ambulances. The engineer says he went to the scene of the explosion with his colleagues. "I saw some people removed from the tanks. They were dead. All the colleagues who witnessed the explosion were crying. The Koç group lied about the incident; they alleged that the workers could not be rescued despite all the attempts. That is completely lie. They are trying to conceal the scale of the incident. Those workers inside the tank were already dead," the engineer continued, refuting the allegations of capitalist Koç group.
The operator says they were taught during the occupational safety pieces of training that the workers have the right to stop working in case of unsafe conditions. He adds some of his friends were warned and threatened because they stopped working in such unsafe conditions.
'KOÇ GROUP ACTS LIKE A CRIMINAL ORGANISATION'
"They make big profits by compelling the refinery to work in overcapacity conditions and ignoring occupational safety as well as reducing the maintenance durations. The Koç family gains the lion’s share in these profits," the engineer continues, blaming the capitalist company for organizing a system that is similar to a criminal group in order to increase the profits. He says most of the higher managers are granted with big bonuses to impose pressure upon the workers.
The operator adds that a manager warned the workers to continue working even during the moment of explosion at the refinery.
In answer to whether the management attempts to put the guilt on the shoulders of others, the engineer says "Yes, all the time," and continues: "Some of our friends were taken to the court after the explosion as if they were the responsible. The responsible here is the Koç family passionate for profit, not our friends."
The operator continues, saying that the Koç group will endeavour so as not to take the responsibility. He says: 'We set all the rules, they violated the rules although we warned them all the time,' they would say.
KOÇ GROUP'S FAKE IMAGE: 'INDEED A CARTEL OF ARMS AND OIL'
Talking about the capitalist Koç Group’s fake attempt to portray the company as the "friend of people" particularly during the mass anti-government demonstrations in the summer of 2013, the engineer says:
"The Koç group has an image. They reflect themselves as a democratic, secular, friendly and contemporary family who even supported the Gezi Park protestors. But, that is wrong. We are talking about a company which has a factory in the Arab Emirates, searching for cheap oil in Iraq and Syria. In short, we are talking about a giant cartel of arms and oil. They ignore the workers' rights."
Talking about the workers’ position after the murdered workers at the refinery, the operator concluded: "This incident caused us to overcome the fear. We will never surrender from now on, we will never accept such incidents, we will confront them all the time."
