Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced that the government will not allow labor unions and civil society organizations to hold a May Day demonstration in İstanbul’s central Taksim Square out of public safety concerns despite a request from these groups.
Yerlikaya made the announcement at a news conference at the ministry on Monday, which was also broadcast on his X account. He said the İstanbul Governor’s Office had listed 40 venues for demonstrations and marches across the city in January and that Taksim Square was not one of them.
The minister said that although the governor’s office previously announced that a May Day demonstration would not be allowed in Taksim Square, a labor confederation and a number of labor unions filed petitions to hold activities in Taksim, and they continue to call on people to gather in the area on May Day.
Taksim Square, which has symbolic importance for demonstrators due to the killing of 34 people by unknown assailants on May Day in 1977, has become a subject of tension and confrontation between the government and labor unions in the days leading up to May Day since 2013.
Until 2009, Taksim was off limits to demonstrators following Bloody May Day in 1977. About three decades after the incident, under tight security, Taksim Square became the venue of peaceful demonstrations aside from a few minor incidents in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The area was closed to demonstrations again in 2013 out of security concerns.
The minister also said some terrorist organizations have been making calls for a week on 54 social media accounts for people to come to Taksim on May Day. He did not specify which terrorist organizations were making such a call.
According to Yerlikaya, Taksim Square is not suitable for holding a demonstration due to its location and heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic, which he said makes it difficult for law enforcement to take security measures, while claiming that such a large gathering poses threats to the protection of individual rights and liberties.
Yerlikaya said the government cannot make concessions to the right to own property, the right to engage in work and the freedom of movement of others just to protect one individual right, the freedom of assembly and association.
“And we will never allow terrorist organizations … to use May Day celebrations as a propaganda tool,” said the minister.
On every May Day since 2013, police close all roads leading to the square and increase its presence in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to prevent protestors from reaching Taksim.
Only a small group of people is allowed to hold a demonstration in the area. Since the imposition of the ban, Turkey has seen violent confrontations between the police and the protestors as well as the detention of dozens of people in Taksim Square on May Days.
Although Yerlikaya claims that Taksim Square is not a suitable venue for holding demonstrations, Mücella Yapıcı, a board member of the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects Chambers (TMMOB), said in a message on X that the Taksim Square is just the right place for such meetings.
Tam aksine toplantı ve yürüyüşler için toplanma ve dağılma açısından en güvenli ve uygun meydan Taksim Meydanıdır. Zira meydan olarak tasarlanmıştır. Asıl yasaklı olması gereken deprem bekleyen bir kentte hiç bir bilimsel koşula uygun yapılmayan Yeni kapı ve Maltepe dolgularıdır https://t.co/KJt42PEyfY
— mücella yapıcı (@MucellaYapici) April 29, 2024
She said it is the perfect venue for marches and demonstrations where people can easily come together and easily disperse because of its design as a square. She said other places such as those in Yenikapı and Maltepe designated as venues for demonstrations by the government are not actually suitable for such gatherings because they were created on landfill, disregarding the relevant scientific criteria in an earthquake-prone city.
Despite the government’s refusal, labor unions say they are determined to hold May Day activities in Taksim.
The Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK) said in a statement on Monday that laborers will be in Taksim Square on May Day in line with the symbolic value of the area for the day, while recalling that the interior ministry’s decision not to allow the events there contravene a Constitutional Court decision.
DİSK said everyone has the right to be in Taksim Square on May Day to observe the meaning of the venue for that day and to pass on the experience to the next generation.
The ban on Taksim Square remains in effect despite two rulings from the Constitutional Court last year that found right violations in the ban for May Day demonstrations in the area.
Labor unions including DİSK, the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), the TMMOB and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) took the ban on May Day demonstrations in Taksim Square in 2014 and 2015 to the Constitutional Court.
The court found a violation of the freedom of assembly for each of the applicants and ruled for the payment of damages to them. The top court also sent a copy of its decision to the İstanbul Governor’s Office, police headquarters and the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to prevent similar rights violations from taking place in the future.
Meanwhile, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Özgür Özel called Yerlikaya on Monday, requesting him to review the ministry’s decision to ban the May Day events in Taksim Square, Turkish media outlets reported.
Özel told the minister that his party members will, if necessary, be enlisted to help in the holding of demonstrations peacefully in Taksim on May Day as he emphasized the symbolic importance of the area for the demonstrators.