Israel-related social media posts cost two Turkish employees their jobs
Muhammet Oçan and Esat Aykurt, who worked for a company that acts as the Turkish distributor for an Israeli-origin software brand, were fired after expressing their reactions to the attacks on Gaza.
AA
Muhammed Oçan and Esat Aykurt, whose employment contracts were terminated by an Israeli-origin software firm on the grounds that they made posts reacting to Israel's occupation of Gaza, will seek their rights in court.
Muhammet Oçan and Esat Aykurt, who worked at the company that acts as the Turkey distributor for the Israeli-origin software brand, expressed their reactions via their social media accounts, just like many others.
The duo, who made posts criticizing the Israeli occupation, alleged that they were subsequently fired due to these posts.
Muhammed Oçan, whose employment was terminated, filed a lawsuit for material and moral compensation against the company on the grounds that he did not receive his full severance and other payments. In the lawsuit he filed through his lawyer at the Istanbul 29th Labor Court, Oçan also claimed that he was made to work despite a workplace accident he suffered in 2023.
The petition submitted to the court mentioned the post made against Israel as follows:
"My client was personally called by the company's general manager and warned at the request of E.S., who has a business relationship with the defendant company, on the grounds that he shared a video regarding the death of a 12-year-old Palestinian child named Muhammed Durra in his father's arms. E.S. met my client at the TÜYAP machinery fair on September 27, 2022, and continued his pressure by saying, 'I am following your posts, I have my eye on you.' My client's employment contract was terminated 2 days after he made a similar post..."
Evaluating the petition, the labor court accepted the lawsuit with a partial compensation claim. The hearing of the case will begin in the coming days. It was learned that Esat Aykurt, who was also fired, will file a similar lawsuit in the coming days.
WARNED BY HIS MANAGER
Explaining his posts and the dismissal process, Muhammed Oçan stated that he was called and warned by the company's Israeli partner and general manager, and alleged that he was fired because he continued to make such posts.
Oçan explained that he first made a post on social media after the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, saying, "After this post, I had an argument with the son of a member of the company's board of directors. And upon his warning, I was asked to remove my post. And I had removed that post."
Stating that he also shared a video regarding the killing of a 12-year-old child named Muhammed Durra by Israeli soldiers in 2021, Oçan said that this time the company's general manager called him and warned him to remove this post against Israel.
Pointing out that the information about his post was given to his general manager by the manager of the Israel-origin firm based in Germany for which they are the distributor, Oçan stated that this manager warned him by shaking his finger at the fair in Istanbul, but that he started making posts again after the massacres that began on October 7.
'DON'T DO SUCH THINGS' THEY SAID
Esat Aykurt, claiming that he was fired for the same reasons, said that he had worked as a mechanical engineer at this company for 7 years and that he had received reactions from the workplace from time to time during his tenure regarding not making posts against Israel.
Aykurt spoke as follows:
"I had heard before that my colleague Muhammed Oçan had received such reactions due to his posts. After the recent events in Gaza, I also made posts on social media supporting Palestine, like all Muslims, including content that children should not die. We received feedback from some friends at the workplace saying, 'You are working with an Israeli-origin firm, don't do such things.' But I still continued to support the Palestinian people as every Muslim should."
Noting that he was called by the company's human resources department, Aykurt emphasized that he was fired on the grounds that the company was downsizing, but that a new job posting was issued for the position he was fired from.