Soma message from Can Atalay! 'We stand against the perpetrators of the massacre'

Lawyer Can Atalay, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Gezi Park trial and whose parliamentary seat was revoked despite Constitutional Court (AYM) rulings, issued a statement on the 11th anniversary of the Soma Mine Disaster.

"THEY WERE LET OFF WITH A SO-CALLED SENTENCE CALCULATED AT A FEW DAYS PER WORKER"

In his message shared from Marmara Prison in Silivri, where he is being held, Atalay emphasized 'solidarity' and addressed the people of Soma as follows:

"Dear people of Soma; Today is May 13. It is the eleventh anniversary of the massacre of 301 of our workers in the mine galleries while they were pursuing their bread in Soma.

I have not been able to be with you for three years. I cannot hold the hands of the relatives of those who were massacred and share their pain. For three years, I have been unable to support your solidarity and participate in your daily struggle for rights.

As a deputy elected by the votes of the people of Hatay and sent to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, our country's highest institution, to defend their rights, I am being kept in prison in violation of the Constitution. I send my greetings and love to each of you from Silivri. Even though I am far away, I know and believe that our persistence and determination have not diminished at all.

Citizens, the cheapest cost item in Turkey is the life of a worker. We must repeat this shocking but obvious truth everywhere and at all times. Let us repeat it so that no laborer dies while earning their bread. Let those who work live in a way worthy of human dignity.

The wives, siblings, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters of the 301 workers pursued justice not only for their deceased loved ones but also for our future generations. Human rights lawyers, labor and democracy forces, political parties that stand with the citizens, and sensitive citizens lent them their support. They organized the struggle for justice by working day and night. They did everything in their power for the rights and law of those who were massacred. I congratulate each of them from the bottom of my heart and salute them with respect.

In the end, the murderers of the 301 workers were let off in front of the whole country, without any need to hide or conceal it, at the Court of Cassation with a so-called sentence calculated at a few days per worker. This means that the hands of the workers' murderers are long, and their solidarity is strong.

We, as the workers, those who create the country's wealth with their labor, will place our own popular solidarity directly against the solidarity of the perpetrators of the massacre. We will expand and elevate our struggle to place the life and rights of the citizen at the highest level, the level they deserve, for our loved ones massacred in Soma, Aladağ, Sakarya, Hendek, and Çorlu, and for our future generations. We will strengthen our solidarity so that the right to speak and decide in our country belongs to the citizens. May our solidarity be strong and our unity be eternal for rights, law, and justice."