Turkey marks International Workers’ Day
Politicians, trade unions and workers across Turkey marked the International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day.
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader sent a message to his supporters for the occasion.
“I commemorate May 1 Labor and Solidarity Day with belief in the future that unemployment is resolved, business crime ends, poverty and inequality in income distribution is corrected; and a future that is based on production and job opportunities,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu tweeted.
The Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (TURK-IS) held a large May Day event in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.
Also, some members of Turk-Is, the HAK-IS Trade Union Confederation Istanbul Provincial Directorate and the members of four different trade unions separately placed a wreath on republic monument in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
May Day, first emerged as an event commemorating the labor of workers worldwide on May 1, 1886, when a group of workers in the U.S. held a massive strike for an eight-hour workday.
Turkey’s first official May Day celebrations were held in 1923.
In 1977, Labor Day demonstrations in Istanbul’s Taksim Square left 34 people dead and 136 injured in what became known as Bloody May 1.
