Dozens of Turkish airport workers jailed after protest
A labor protest demanding better conditions and a safer workplace at Istanbul’s controversial new airport, due to open in six weeks, lands 24 workers in jail pending formal charges. Officials say they are provocateurs seeking to sully one of Turkey’s grandest infrastructure projects.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Consolas; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} A Turkish court on Wednesday jailed 24 workers, including four union leaders, pending formal charges for their alleged roles in a protest at Istanbul’s new $13 billion airport.
The case has cast a harsh light on the country’s bleak labor conditions and threatens to mar President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest prestige project: one of the world’s biggest airports that will serve some 90 million passengers. The airport is set to open Oct. 29, coinciding with the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic.
The workers’ complaints, including dozens of deaths due to an unsafe working environment, underscore why Turkey ranks among the world’s worst countries to be a worker. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Consolas; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
The court released 19 people but they are subject to judicial controls ahead of a prosecutor's indictment, the builders’ union Insaat-Is, said on Twitter.
