“We Will Build a Country Where We Will Not Be Forced to Choose between Our Bread and Our Lives”: CP Turkey

We have lost dozens of miners at the Amasra Coal Enterprise mine in Amasra district of Bartın province, in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey. We are in absolute grief. Our main duty today is to stand in solidarity with the families of the injured miners and those who have lost their lives.

But there is one question that preoccupies our minds, why did our miner brothers die? Why do workers die in mines, in construction sites, in workplaces?

We are in the twenty-first century, and we are all amazed by the advances in science and technology. The level of scientific and technical development is at such a point that people’s lives can be made much easier and with fewer challenges. But while all these opportunities and the wealth created by humanity are offered to the interests of a handful of money lords, billions of people continue to struggle with poverty, misery and death. As millions of workers in our country, we work by risking our lives in order to earn three pennies.

This system we live in is called the market order. The “market” was allegedly defined in such a way to bring humanity to a higher level, to develop and to increase wealth. Yet, the point we have reached is obvious. Today, our country’s nature and resources have been plundered and squandered. Workers’ lives are sacrificed and dismissed for cost and profit calculations, despite all kinds of scientific framework and technical possibilities.

Yes, shouldn’t we ask today, what is the “fate”, as in the religious discourse of the government, that causes the death of a miner?

Why did our fellow miners climb down to their deaths, for what and at what risk?

The reason for the occupational murder committed in Amasra on 14 October 2022 is said to be due to a firedamp explosion. In the midst of rumors about privatization and subcontractor activities, the mine that belongs to the public sector is almost pushed to becoming privatized. Whether methane gas measurements were carried out in accordance with the regulations, whether the necessary ventilation ducts were open, whether the necessary inspections were carried out regularly, whether there were rescue stations with individual oxygen, and so on…

The energy sector in Turkey has been handed over to the market. Coal mining activities in Turkey have been largely handed over to the hands of mercenary capitalists and their informal subcontractors who totally ignore human life, and the Turkish Hardcoal Corporation has been brought to the point of complete liquidation. The result is an unplanned waste of our country’s energy resources and absolute ignoring of the lives of miners.

It is very clear that the AKP government cannot govern. They cannot govern because they consider their main duty as to satisfy the greed of capital. Unfortunately, mine workers are losing their lives so that the market and the capitalists can be satisfied.

As the Communist Party of Turkey, we call on our people to put an end to this ruthlessness and impudence. Let us not let a single one of our fellow workers die for the interests of a handful of parasites.

The solution is clear: All mining enterprises must be nationalized, all private enterprises and subcontractor activities in the field of mining must come to an end. Coal production must be planned centrally, taking into account the needs of the whole society, and all scientific and technical requirements must be fulfilled in a way to ensure the safety and health of miners as the top priority.

Our promise to miners: We will build a country where we will not be forced to choose between our bread and our lives!