01.05.2025 10:40
On May 1st, in commemoration of Labor and Solidarity Day, DİSK's General President Arzu Çerkezoğlu laid a wreath at the Atatürk Monument in Taksim and stated, "Give up the ban on Taksim, remove these barricades. Open Taksim Square for May 1st, open Taksim Square for the working class."
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DİSK marched to the Atatürk Monument in Taksim to commemorate May 1st Labor and Solidarity Day. DİSK General President Arzu Çerkezoğlu made the following statement: "Today is the international day of unity, struggle, and solidarity of the working class. First of all, we respectfully and nostalgically remember our friends who we lost on May 1, 1977, in Taksim Square, our friend who we lost in the struggle for the liberation of Taksim and May 1 in 1989, and our friends who we lost on May 1, 1996, in Kadıköy.
Today, all around the world, on 5 continents, thousands of kilometers away, it is a day when we shout our demands and our struggle together with our class brothers and sisters whom we have never seen. May 1 takes place during a period when, unfortunately, workers and laborers in our country are experiencing an extremely negative process, facing a grim picture. May 1 is once again overshadowed by a great ban and blockade in our country and in Istanbul. Today, Taksim Square, our May 1 square, is once again prohibited. Our May 1 square is once again under blockade with barricades. Not only Taksim Square but the entire city of Istanbul is under blockade today.
"MAY 1 SQUARE HAS BEEN PROHIBITED FOR YEARS"
Workers and laborers everywhere in the world celebrate May 1 in the areas they designate. But in our country, the May 1 square has been prohibited for years. We have been fighting for years to liberate the May 1 square and Taksim Square. In 2010, 2011, and 2012, we held the largest May 1 celebrations in the world right here in this square. However, since 2013, Taksim Square has been prohibited again. In fact, these barricades tell a lot. These barricades reflect the mentality of the political power that governs the country today. These barricades illustrate the oppression of millions of workers and laborers to minimum wage and lack of union representation.
They want to turn Turkey into a country of minimum wage earners, a country of retirees who have to work, a country of workers who pay more taxes than their bosses, a country where women face violence and discrimination every day, a country that forces our youth to seek their future abroad, a country that darkens the future of our youth, a country where our children go to school hungry, a country where those who try to turn us into a land of imprisoned politicians, mayors, journalists, and unionists want us to be silent. They want us to not object to anything. They want us to be content with what they give. They want no one to object, to oppose.
"THE RESTRICTIVE MENTALITY CONTINUES"
Today, the political power that has largely lost its social support is resorting to pressure, force, arrests, and detentions to remain in power. The prohibition of May 1 Square and Taksim Square today is also a result of the same mentality. Despite the decisions made by the International Court and the Constitutional Court, Taksim Square remains prohibited as the May 1 Square both legally and historically, and this restrictive mentality continues.
Therefore, we once again call out to the government that rules the country from here; abandon the Taksim ban, remove these barricades. Open Taksim Square for May 1, open Taksim Square for the working class. We are once again calling out from here; those who see oppression, tyranny, and prohibitions as the guarantee of their power should know that there is no greater force than the people, who produce all the values and beauties of this country, from the working class, laborers, retirees, women, youth, and our children, the true owners of this country. We are once again calling out from here; we will definitely break this blockade. We will liberate Taksim Square and May 1. We will surely establish a country in this land where equality, freedom, justice, peace, and brotherhood prevail, and where labor receives its due.
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