Turkish court accepts indictment against Tekel workers after nine years
Turkish prosecutors prepared an indictment over the protests in March 2010, but a Turkish court accepted it has only accepted it this week, nine years after the strikes took place.
A Turkish court in Ankara accepted an indictment against workers of the former state-run tobacco and alcoholic beverage company, Tekel, who went on a strike in the winter ending in 2010, Diken news site reported .
The Turkish government in December 2009 announced that 12 Tekel factories would be closed and around 10,000 workers would be redeployed in other public sector companies, but would face wage cuts and reductions in employment rights.
An estimated 12,000 workers came across Turkey to Ankara to protest the wage cuts and demand their severance pay, sparking one of the most important demonstrations in Turkey since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.
Turkish prosecutors prepared an indictment over the protests in March 2010, but a Turkish court accepted it has only accepted it this week, nine years after the strikes took place.
The indictment accuses the workers of organising demonstration outside the AKP headquarters, opening banners, refusing to disperse despite police warnings, and damaging the party’s properties, Diken said.
A Turkish court in March also accepted an indictment that demanded a total of 47,520 years in prison for 16 suspects – actors, lawyers, activists and journalists – on charges of attempting to violently overthrow the government by organising the 2013 Gezi protests, the biggest demonstrations against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since he came to power in 2003.
Source: Ahval
