Protest by Çiğli Municipality workers who were laid off in front of the CHP General Center

Workers dismissed by the Çiğli Municipality in İzmir staged a protest in front of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Headquarters.
The workers who were dismissed by the Çiğli Municipality organized a protest in front of the CHP Headquarters. Workers who came from İzmir to Ankara for the protest demanded the reversal of the dismissal decision and the reinstatement of their rights.

“39 friends have been continuing our protest here for 16 days”
Hale Ören Öznaçar, one of the workers participating in the protest, stated in an interview with IHA that she started working at the Çiğli Municipality on April 10, 2023. Öznaçar expressed that she was dismissed by Onur Emrah Yıldız, who was elected as the Mayor of Çiğli in the Local Government General Elections held on March 31. She noted that the reasons for dismissal included being a two-month staff, not residing in the district, and that other individuals from different families were also working in the municipality. Öznaçar said, “From June 10 to July 15, we continued our protest on the steps of the Çiğli Municipality. We tried to do something there for as long as our union allowed. However, when we realized that we would not receive full support from our union representatives, we decided to move our protest to the front of the CHP Headquarters. About 39 friends have been continuing our protest here for 16 days.”
Öznaçar mentioned that on the first day of the protest, they met with CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, stating, “We had a meeting with our General Chairman Özgür Özel. He told us that he would also meet with our mayor and the Mayor of Bornova that day and would get back to us. We said, ‘Okay, Mr. Chairman, we trust you. We won’t leave here until we hear from you.’ Since that time, we still haven’t received a response. We are staying here on a rotating basis. Some of our friends had to return because of their families. As you can see, we are continuing our struggle here, lying on the ground.”

“We have built a life for ourselves in front of the CHP Headquarters”
Seher Koçtepe, another dismissed worker, said that the lights of the headquarters are on, but they are being ignored. Koçtepe expressed that they want the issue to be resolved as soon as possible, stating, “Now we are stopping the deputies passing by the door. We want the authorities to intervene in this situation as soon as possible. As women, we are lying on the ground here. We miss our families. Children miss their mothers, and mothers miss their children. We left our lives in İzmir and came here. We have built a life for ourselves in front of the CHP Headquarters. The authorities must resolve this as soon as possible. We are tired of freezing in the cold of Ankara. We want them to see and hear us.”