We Condemn the Police Attack on Doruk Mining Workers!
Workers employed in mining operations across Turkey are forced to work under harsh and unsafe conditions. This situation has led to the loss of many workers’ lives as a result of repeated accidents over the years. These accidents, caused entirely by unsafe conditions, are essentially industrial homicides. Furthermore, the non-payment of wages in many companies has led to workers seeking their rights and engaging in resistance. Indeed, the recent resistance carried out by Doruk Mining workers stands out as a current example of this process.
“We don’t want charity, we want our rights”
Workers at Doruk Mining, a company affiliated with Yıldızlar SSS Holding in Eskişehir, are continuing their struggle—initiated in response to unpaid wages, redundancies and obstacles to the right to organise—in order to bring their cause to the public’s attention.
Organised within the Independent Miners’ Union, the workers marched from Eskişehir to Ankara under the slogan “We don’t want charity, we want our rights” to make their voices heard. At the end of their nine-day march, a police raid on the press conference they intended to hold outside the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources resulted in the arrest of union officials and many workers, and their planned meeting with the ministry was blocked. The workers, however, have refused to back down from their resolute stance and have announced that they will continue their resistance with a hunger strike.
Who is Yıldızlar SSS Holding?
Following the transfer of the mine—which had been seized by the TMSF (Deposit Insurance Fund) in 2016—to Yıldızlar SSS Holding in 2022, many of the workers’ rights were violated, and payments for severance pay, notice pay, overtime and wages ceased. As a result, the number of mine workers has fallen from 1,200 to 300.
Yıldızlar SSS Holding owns numerous mining and energy operations across Turkey and frequently comes under scrutiny for practices such as the non-payment of workers’ wages, seniority and notice pay, and forcing workers onto unpaid leave without their consent.
The miners’ demands are as follows:
They are demanding the full payment of unpaid wages, bonuses and annual leave entitlements accrued both before and after the TMSF takeover, as well as the reinstatement and safeguarding of their trade union rights. This also includes redressing the grievances of workers who were unfairly dismissed and whose compensation has not been paid. The demand is for the abolition of the compulsory unpaid leave imposed on workers without their consent, the provision of working conditions compliant with OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) regulations, and the reinstatement of workers dismissed for leading the trade union struggle. Furthermore, in order to ensure job security and safeguard the mine’s sustainability, the nationalisation of the company and the legal safeguarding of workers’ job security are being demanded.
Your Resistance Is Our Resistance!
Hundreds of workers have lost their lives in the workplace tragedies caused by the slave-like and precarious working conditions faced by miners. The attacks on the protests organised by workers to voice their most basic demands—such as the improvement of health and safety conditions, the payment of their social entitlements and wages—constitute an attack on all workers and labourers.
As the Confederation of Turkish Workers in Europe, we support the resistance of all miners in Turkey, particularly that of the workers at Yıldızlar SSS Holding, and we condemn the police’s attack on the workers. We call on all workers and labourers, particularly the miners, to embrace the resistance initiated by the workers of Doruk Madencilik through international solidarity.
The Miners’ Resistance Is Our Resistance!
Long Live International Solidarity!
ATIK

