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Over 100 mine workers began a hunger strike outside Türkiye’s Energy and Natural Resources Ministry in Ankara after marching from Eskisehir to demand unpaid wages, severance and notice payments, and solutions for colleagues who were dismissed or put on unpaid leave.
The protest was led by the Independent Mine Workers Union, known in Turkish as Bagimsiz Maden-Is, on behalf of workers who are working at Doruk Mining. On the ninth day of their march from the Eskisehir-Ankara border, the workers were stopped by police as they headed to the ministry.
Opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Umut Akdogan said they would ask Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar for an appointment. Ahmet Davutoglu, leader of the Future Party (Gelecek Partisi), also conveyed support to the union and was said to be planning to raise the workers’ demands at his party’s parliamentary meeting on Wednesday.
After the workers reached the nearby Turkish ministry, police detained 110 miners.
After arriving outside the ministry, workers said they were still waiting for rights and payments dating back to last year.
They described the situation as a prolonged grievance and said they had spent nine days calling for help while also repeatedly going to parliament to ask for a solution.
They said mine workers are often the last people to rise up because they go down into the pit knowing the risks and carry what they described as a constant sense of danger.
Some workers stressed that they had not been able to bring money home for four and a half months, asking what happens to a household when it goes that long without income.
In one of the protest’s clearest slogans, workers said, "We work 29 days to make the boss happy. On the 30th day, with our wages in hand, we want one day to make ourselves happy." They said they were simply asking for the money they had earned through their labor.
Union lawyer Abdurrahim Demiryurek said these workers had already staged more than 20 protests without getting their rights and said they had repeatedly been misled.
The protest then took a sharper turn when the miners launched a hunger strike outside the ministry. Sitting on the ground with their shirts off, they shouted, "We are hungry, poor, and stripped bare!" while hitting their helmets on the ground in protest.
The demonstration later shifted into what workers called a silent resistance. They wrote messages of protest across their backs in purple paint and used their bodies as living banners.
After being released, Cakir and Aksu returned directly to the protest site. Speaking there, Cakir said the workers were being forced to live with death underground and the fear of bread above ground.
Speaking to Cumhuriyet, Cakir said the union’s demands were clear: workers who had been dismissed should be reinstated, those placed on unpaid leave should have their situation resolved, and workers who had not received severance or notice compensation from any company should be paid. He also said some workers had gone five months without wages.
He said the group would remain outside the ministry until results were achieved, adding that the workers would not go back before receiving what they were owed.
Cakir also called on politicians to step in by speaking with employers and ministry officials.
He said these workers had children and were citizens like everyone else, while also reminding the public that they help keep Türkiye heated and lit. He said they face death underground and a struggle for bread above ground and added that workers should not be subjected to such treatment.
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