Mine Workers' Union strike decision postponed by Erdoğan's decree: Justification cited as 'National Security'

The strike decision taken by the Turkish Mine Workers' Union has been postponed for 60 days by a decree signed by President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on the grounds that it was "deemed to be disruptive to national security." The first strike had been set to begin on 1 August.

The presidential decree in question was published in the Official Gazette.

In the decree, the strike decision taken by the Turkish Mine Workers' Union was found to be "disruptive to national security." On those grounds, the strike was postponed for 60 days.

THE FIRST STRIKE WAS SET FOR 1 AUGUST

The parties had failed to reach an agreement in wage negotiations covering 600 thousand public-sector workers.

The government's most recent offer to workers was a 24 percent raise for the first six months of this year, 11 percent for the second six months, 10 percent for the first six months of 2026, and 6 percent for the second six months.

However, this offer was rejected by Türk-İş, and a strike decision was taken. Under this framework, Türk-İş had been set to launch its first actual strike on Friday, 1 August, at boron mining operations affiliated with Eti Maden.