Turkey: 5000 join Eğitim Sen’s open air meeting for rights and education

Published:

Nearly 5000 members and supporters of Eğitim Sen gathered in Ankara, Turkey, on 23 November. Eğitim Sen had called academics, teachers and other education personnel to the open air meeting under the slogan “For our rights, future and our students’ right to education”.

This was the first open air meeting since the peace demonstration where a terrorist bomb attack killed more than 100 trade union activists and peaceful demonstrators.

We recall that Eğitim Sen’s demands include:

  • Addressing teachers’ financial and professional problems.
  • Safe and permanent employment for all education personnel.
  • Ensuring tax justice and fixing the tax bracket for education workers at 10%.
  • Guaranteeing access to quality public education for all.
  • Ending privatisation and conservative practices in education.
  • Reinstatement of dismissed education and science workers, including urgent reinstatement of Peace Academics to the universities where they worked before being dismissed.

A delegation from German ETUCE member organisation GEW joined the crowd, which started to gather at 13.00 for the meeting from 13.30 until 15.00. At the meeting, Eğitim Sen and the workers they represent declared that they are ready to struggle for their values and demands.