Workers From Other Enterprises Also Reached Us.

Başaran Aksu, an organizing specialist for the Independent Maden-İş union, has sent a letter from prison on the fifth day of an indefinite hunger strike, writing, "We are the vast majority, we are the very embodiment of the national will. Aksu, who is in his 10th day of detention, wrote in his letter: "The rich, the bosses, the holdings, the yellow unions will also collapse on the future of our children as long as they are not disturbed. They are the dominant source of exploitation.

They are the sole support of the regime. They are afraid. A little more courage!

A little more effort. Aksu and Gökay Çakır, the union's general president based in Soma, were detained on charges of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility" and arrested on August 26, following protests in Ankara over months of unpaid wages and labor claims at mines owned by Yıldızlar SSS Holding. In his testimony, Aksu described their resistance and meetings with ministers and deputy ministers, stating, "We got tens of thousands of workers' severance pay paid through a 2.5-year struggle.

We are carrying out a rights struggle for tens of thousands of workers at the same time. Workers from other enterprises also reached us. We are managing a resistance process.

Sabahattin Yıldız did not keep his promise made before three ministries. We met with Deputy Minister of Labor Faruk Bey, he stands by his word. We met with the Ministry of Energy, they stand by their word.

They are not paying the workers' severance and retirement benefits." We stated that we wanted to meet with the Presidency. There were responses from there, and the workers' problem should be resolved as soon as possible, families are coming, children are in Ankara. They need this money.

At our meeting at the Ministry of Energy, our minister thanked us. Uğur Bayraktutan, a deputy from the YENİ Party for Artvin, visited Aksu at Sincan Prison on September 1. Bayraktutan announced that Aksu had begun an indefinite hunger strike, according to information Aksu conveyed to him. Bayraktutan said the action began at 5:00 p.m. the previous evening, aimed at protesting intervention in union rights and highlighting obstacles to exercising rights under Article 51 of the Constitution. Bayraktutan added, We will continue to stand by him to the end in this struggle for this right.