Çayırhan miners speak out from Ankara: 'The only ones who didn't understand our plight are the authorities!'

The march, which mine workers opposing the asset sale of the Çayırhan Thermal Power Plant and Mine in the Nallıhan district of Ankara restarted from Beypazarı on February 10, concluded on its fourth day in front of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.

In addition to hundreds of workers who walked 80 kilometers and their families, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş, CHP Deputy Chairman Deniz Yavuzyılmaz, CHP MPs Umut Akdoğan, Aylin Yaman, and Müzeyyen Şevkin, İYİ Party Bursa MP Selçuk Türkoğlu, Maden-İş Union President Nurettin Akçul, TÜRK-İŞ President Ergün Atalay, and TES-İş President İrfan Kabaloğlu took part in the march.

Maden-İş Union President Nurettin Akçul emphasized that the revised tender specifications do not provide guarantees for workers and are a text prone to abuse, stating the following:

"We hit the road to explain our plight to Ankara. When the postponement decision was issued, we thought it was a positive step, and again, thinking of our state and our workplace, we stopped our march so that production would not be disrupted. We returned to our workplaces with the hope that a negotiation process would begin and that this mistake would be corrected. We were on standby until 4 days ago, but we learned that only one or two articles had been reviewed in the specifications that were said to have been changed. In these articles, which they presented as good news, the number of workers to be employed was stated as at least 2,050. By saying 'The purchasing company will strive to give priority to those working in the assets subject to the tender,' they used an open-ended, deceptive expression that is prone to abuse and provides no guarantee to the worker. As for the period for vacating the lodgings, they extended it to 12 months for those who leave their jobs, effectively encouraging them to quit. We saw that they did not hear the workers' voices; they did not understand us at all. We have been on the road for 4 days. During this process, we received great support from political party representatives, the public, and the media. Everyone understood our plight; the only ones who didn't were the authorities."