The TUC, which represents some 5.5 million workers in 48 trade unions issued a joint statement with DISK and KESK calling for the deal to be put on hold “until workers rights are respected.”

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady warned that the deal signed on December 29 does nothing to protect workers in Turkey who she said “have had to endure countless oppressive attacks on their fundamental labour and human rights.”

“The UK government has to make sure that trade negotiations, and deals, support worker and human rights. This agreement entirely fails that test,” she said.

More than 96,000 workers, mainly from the public sector remain dismissed out of the approximately 150,000 sacked under the state of emergency that was introduced after the failed coup attempt of 2016.

The International Trades Union Confederation (ITUC) has named Turkey as one of the top 10 worst countries for workers, noting that trade unions have been operating “in a climate of fear and under the constant threat of retaliation.”

Trade unionists in Turkey face continued oppression with scores from teaching union Egitim Sen detained in mass arrests in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir last November. 

Their schools were searched and 26 teachers taken into custody as part of state operations against the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) - an organisation that campaigns for Kurdish autonomy and a peaceful solution to the so-called Kurdish question.

In 2018 hundreds of construction workers at the Istanbul Grand Airport, one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vanity projects, were detained and charged with terrorism offences after protesting over health and safety concerns.

The airport construction project was described as a “workers graveyard” with some reports putting the death toll as high as 400 out of the 31,000 workforce. This figure was disputed with official statistics showing 37 people killed.

It is claimed the government paid blood money to the families of the dead, most of whom were migrant workers, in a bid to cover up the scandal.

DISK President Arzu Cerkezoglu, who has herself been detained many times for her trade union activities warned that workers in Turkey are already facing low salaries, rising unemployment and “union-busting” from bosses, which she said had worsened due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But she said the trade deal “could be a new platform to discuss international labour rights in Turkey.”

Mehmet Bozgeyik, co-president of the KESK union confederation which represents public sector workers said that any trade deal that fails to protect fundamental rights will worsen the situation for workers.

“Trade unions will continue to monitor the situation of our rights and freedoms and to carry out our struggle for our rights,” he said.

 

Kurdish campaigners blasted last months trade agreement which was signed just days after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that jailed former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leader Selahattin Demirtas should be freed from prison, where he has been held since 2016.

 

Peace in Kurdistan called on Britain’s Trade Secretary Liz Truss to ensure that the Kurdish politician was released before signing the agreement which was branded a “deal of shame.”

 

It called for Britain to use the negotiations to pressure Turkey to take appropriate steps to bring an end to war and conflict and help build a future based on peace, unity and cooperation.

 

In 2017 the TUC agreed to support the campaign to free jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, with many of its constituent unions backing the call.