Workers fired by Istanbul's Üsküdar Municipality: "They made us do party work"

Duvar English

Workers laid off by the Üsküdar Municipality, controlled by Justice and Development Party, protested in front of the headquarter building. Saying "Those we elected are making us suffer", workers stated they want their jobs back.

'WE WANT OUR JOBS BACK'

The contracts of 150 employees at Üsküdar Municipality were terminated on the 23th of August. Those workers staged protest in reaction. Emre Öztürk, one of the laid off employees, said they want to get back to work. "The Üsküdar Municipality should reveal the real number. We're not talking about 5 or 10 people but more like a hundred."

"If you are honest and stand on the side of justice, you reveal the list and disclose the truth. We are here to claim our rights. We stand together with those who were laid off from the districts of Ataşehir and Maltepe as well. Today we are a bit stronger."

Eyüp Menteş, another person who was fired, said the laid off workers wanted to get in contact with Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen but couldn't. "Why do we want our jobs back? Because we are right. The mayor said there had been no lay offs. We were people who worked until the morning. We stand together with our friends from Ataşehir and Maltepe," Menteş said.

"The Üsküdar Municipality is firing workers arbitrarily without considering if they support the AKP or the CHP. From now on, no one should expect us to stand behind their party. I ask Hilmi Türkmen: Don't you have a conscience? Take back the workers you let go. We will not give up until we win the struggle for our bread. Laborers will prevail. We want our jobs back," Menteş added.

'THEY MADE US DO PARTY WORK'

Another worker, Ercan Yılmaz, said he was dismissed two months ago. Claiming he was unjustly let go with just a phone call. "Our ability to bring food to families depends on a few words said by someone in just a moment

"We live and bring food to our families according to a few words that someone somewhere says in an instant," Yılmaz said.

"They used to tell us 'we are the state, we are the nation' and made us do their party work. We didn't say a word because there was no justice. Today we have bandits wearing ties running the country. We didn't siphon banks, we didn't steal money. We appealed to the CHP, but got no response. Yılmaz Bayat didn't respond. We invite our esteemed politician Kılıçdaroğlu, who walked from Ankara to İstanbul for justice, to come and help us. I appeal to the conscience of all."

Melike, another worker who was let go from Ataşehir district and attended the protest in Üsküdar said: "I was dismissed by the Ataşehir Municipality without a reason. Üsküdar is an AKP district but we were let go by a CHP management. We will continue to resist."

Onur Cingir, the lawyer of the dismissed declared: "I will do what I can to make sure my friends get their jobs back. It's unacceptable these municipalities fail to understand people are going through tough times. They dismissed us and then employed their close friends. If there was a surplus, why hire new workers? This means they had to create space for their own people and they did."