‘Democracy duty meetings’ allowed; commemorating Soma disaster not!
Since the Soma mine disaster of 2014, where 301 miners lost their lives, Social Rights Association (Sosyal Haklar Derneği – SHD) have been holding a press briefing in Kadıköy, İstanbul on the 13th of each month in order to ensure keeping a high awareness of the incident among public. This month, the Association applied to the İstanbul governor’s office to get permission to hold the briefing on the 13th of August at Taksim Square in Beyoğlu.
However, while Democracy Duty Meetings had been taking place in Taksim square every night since the day following the attempted coup of July 15, the application of the Social Rights Association for holding a press briefing at the same square to commemorate the victims of Soma disaster was not even taken into account, let alone given permission.
According to the reports of online news portal Diken, the Association reacted against this decision of the governor’s office.
‘Democracy is obviously only for certain parts of the society’
The released statement of the Association about this issue read as: “In all squares of the country – including Taksim square-, there have recently been ‘democracy duty meetings’; and, we also wanted to hold our briefing in Taksim, this month. As the members of Social Rights Association, we have been holding a briefing on the 13th of every month in order to protest the Soma massacre and declare our determination to not forget the 301 miners who lost their lives and to not allow them to be forgotten. We submitted our request to İstanbul governor’s office in writing. However, we have once again seen that ‘democracy’ and ‘sovereignty’ are actually only for a certain part of the nation. By not even taking record of our application, İstanbul governor’s office has actually chosen to respond to our request in an unlawful way.”
The statement also included remarks where it was said not allowing people to make a statement in Taksim with regards to the trial of those responsible for the miners’ massacre in Soma ‘should actually be considered as the most obvious proof of the current government’s double standards.’
***
The Association held the briefing on August 13th at 19:00 in Kadıköy. They also tried to assemble at Taksim square but as they were blocked by security forces, they chose to meet in front of the French Culture Center on İstiklal Street at 15:00.
In addition to reading their statement in public, the attendees of the demonstration also held banners that said: ‘We want justice both in state of emergency and in state of not-emergency’; ‘Not FETÖ’s jinns; it is a massacre’. People also chanted the slogans of ‘This is not a work accident; it is a massacre’; and ‘Don’t forget Soma; don’t allow it to be forgotten’.
The 9th trial of the case was held earlier last week, and, while testifying in front of the court that day, the arrested manager of the firm Can Gürkan had tried to get away with the responsibility by saying ‘FETÖ must have done it!’ President of the Social Rights Association also made reference during the Taksim briefing to this latest testimony by saying, “As if we don’t know who is responsible, they are trying to put the blame on FETÖ. Those trying to find marks of FETÖ in Soma disaster should look at the hands of the judges who made decisions against the workers. Soma disaster, or all other social murder cases thereof, cannot be acquitted through conspiracy theories.”
Also speaking at the briefing, CHP former İstanbul MP Melda Onur mentioned the democracy duty meetings and referred to those participating in those meetings by saying, “We wish, they had also embraced this issue, too. We wish, we could have held meetings together in Taksim for justice in Soma case.”