Delicate deal on May Day in sight

Photo: Turkey's troubled history with May Day

Taksim Square may see the first peaceful May Day celebration in 32 years today, as major workers’ unions and the Istanbul Governor’s Office yesterday seemed to have agreed on terms of conducting demonstrations at the symbolic square.

For years, Istanbul’s famous tourist center has been at the focus of violent clashes between the police and leftist groups and workers’ unions, who press hard to get into the square despite the usual ban on demonstrations by the Istanbul governor.

"We accept commemoration, dropping of flowers and making a press statement as acceptable, provided that the participants do not pass a reasonable number," Governor Muammer Güler said yesterday.

Likewise, in a joint statement by the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions, or DİSK, the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, and the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, or TMMOB, declared they would send their representatives "in reasonable numbers" to Taksim.

"We endeavored for 30 years to make May Day an official holiday; at last we have won," DİSK President Süleyman Çelebi said, referring to the recent law that turned May Day into an official holiday. "We insisted on celebrating May Day in Taksim, and spoke with President Abdullah Gül and state officials about it. The purest form of stubbornness was what we encountered. We will assemble in reasonable numbers in Taksim. See you there," Çelebi said, adding that the image of being disunited hindered their endeavor to reach Taksim in mass numbers. DİSK was continuing its efforts yesterday to take the whole demonstration to Taksim.

Türk-İş, another major workers' union, agreed to fill the Kadıköy square in Istanbul's Anatolian side, upon the rejection of its demand for a Taksim permit. Türk-İş said it does not want to get together with Hak-İş, due to "problems in some work fields."

Signs of compromise on the part of other unions were also evident, as the chairman of Hak-İş, a workers’ union, Salim Uslu met yesterday with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan, and Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik.

Not taboo
"We do not want disputes with security forces to overshadow the May Day celebrations," Hak-İş’s statement read. Hak-İş decided to send a representative group of its managers and branch office heads to Taksim Square, "to avoid tensions and contribute to peaceful May Day celebrations." Çelik stressed that Taksim was not a taboo for May Day celebrations. May Day celebrations were totally banned in Turkey after the 1980 military coup, and they restarted only gradually after 1985. Today is the first May Day declared an official holiday since the 1980 coup. But Taksim remained as sensitive as it was immediately after the 1977 Bloody May Day, when unknown gunmen shot at hundreds of thousands gathered at Taksim, and caused the deaths of 36 demonstrators in the ensuing upheaval.

Top state officials nevertheless maintained their determination not to turn Taksim into a May Day celebration spot. Güler said yesterday that DİSK, KESK, Hak-İş, TMMOB and TBB heavily insisted on holding the celebrations and mass crowds in Taksim. "Taksim is not a place for demonstrations," Erdoğan earlier said. "Provocations may occur just as last year. We already see signs that it may happen again," Erdoğan said.

Last year, May Day demonstrations witnessed Istanbul police beating demonstrators right in front of the DİSK headquarters in Şişli, only a few kilometers away from Taksim square. Police also had used tear gas to oust some protestors who entered the Şişli Etfal Hospital, harming many patients inside. This year, security cameras were installed on electricity posts in front of the DİSK building in Şişli, causing fury at the union. "Police will never use force as long as it is not attacked," Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler had said Wednesday.

Erdoğan had criticized unions for their desire to march on to Taksim Square for May Day celebrations.

"If we allow workers’ unions the right to demonstrate in Taksim, political parties, associations and foundations will naturally have the right to demonstrate there as well. We explained this to the union, but they still insist. I hope common sense will prevail," Erdoğan said.

DİSK Chairman Süleyman Çelebi had discussed prospects for opening Taksim square to demonstrators with President Abdullah Gül, and Gül reportedly advocated a middle ground to let union representatives inside.