People who were laid off in municipalities governed by the CHP are experiencing a bittersweet holiday

Workers who were laid off by the municipalities governed by the DEM Party in Van and have been continuing their protests for 47 days are experiencing a bitter Eid al-Adha.
DEM Party-led Van Metropolitan Municipality and Ipekyolu Municipality had terminated the contracts of many workers just one day after the International Workers’ Day. The dismissed workers, under the leadership of HAK-IS Van Branch, have been carrying out their protests for a period of 47 days. As the workers who were laid off from Edremit Municipality, Tusba Municipality, and most recently Gevas Municipality also joined the protests, it was reported that around 800 workers have lost their jobs so far. The workers expressed that they could not shop for Eid al-Adha, causing them to spend the holiday in a somber manner.

“They all had various dreams for this holiday”
Speaking on the matter, the President of Hizmet-IS Van Branch, Fatih Akdeniz, stated that layoffs from municipalities such as Van Metropolitan Municipality and Ipekyolu Municipality continue. Akdeniz mentioned that they are on the 47th day of their protests and said, “We are doing our best to fight for the rights and legal interests of our workers who have been deprived of their livelihoods. We have been calling for negotiations for about 25 days. While everyone celebrates the holiday with their families, our colleagues here are struggling to know when they will return to work. They all had various dreams for this holiday. They were going to slaughter sacrificial animals, buy gifts for their children. However, unfortunately, these people were also victimized during the holiday.”

“None of us could prepare for the holiday”
Munir Tonal, who works as a cleaning worker at Ipekyolu Municipality, said, “They talk about democracy, human rights, but as soon as they come, they deprived us of our livelihoods. I have 6 children, I couldn’t even buy a single sock for any of them. I couldn’t shop for the holiday. All my income was from this job,” he said. Another worker named Vedat Odemis, who started working in the disabled quota, expressed that they spent the holiday thinking dark thoughts and could not make any preparations.