The struggle for miners’ rights in the Soma coal basin, which gained renewed attention following the Soma mine disaster of May 2014, has reached a significant turning point. Six miners were dismissed by Fernas Mining after registering with the Independent Miners’ Union (Bağımsız Maden İşçileri Sendikası) for reasons that the company administration fabricated. These miners initiated a strike on August 26, 2024 under the leadership of the Independent Miners’ Union (Bağımsız Maden İşçileri Sendikası) based in Soma, and their stubborn resistance concluded successfully on its 54th day.
Fernas Mining, a subsidiary of Fernas Holding, is owned by Ferhat Nasıroğlu, a deputy of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and a member of the Public Works, Zoning, and Transport Commission of the Parliament.
The festering discontent among the workers of Fernas Mining was rooted primarily in the unsafe working conditions that endangered their lives and in wages that were significantly below the regional average. Many workers thus chose to register with the Independent Miners’ Union—an entirely worker-led union that continues to challenge the entrenched networks of mining companies, company unions such as the Mineworkers’ Union of Turkiye (Türkiye Maden İşçileri Sendikası), and the passively collaborative Revolutionary Trade Union of Mineral Research and Treatment Workers (Türkiye Devrimci Maden Arama ve İşletme İşçileri Sendikası).
The strike, led by the Independent Miners’ Union, concluded successfully on its 54th day. The resistance began in Soma and gained widespread attention, resonating throughout Türkiye.
The demands of the strikers were as follows:
– Reinstatement of workers dismissed due to their union memberships.
– Full and comprehensive enforcement of occupational health and safety measures.
– Wage increases based on the average rates in the Soma coal basin.
Roads cleared step by step
Following the decision to strike, the police obstructed access to the road leading to the mine. The first ten days of the strike were characterized by restricted entry to the site. Once the miners established their presence at the mine’s entrance, they maintained their position and continued the strike without leaving the location. Throughout this time, an important issue arose when the mine’s General Manager, Serkan Güncü, shared workers’ personal data regarding union membership on the social media platform X.
This led to a critical question:
Is the Ministry of Labor and Social Security sharing workers’ personal information with private companies/employers?
Although the ministry issued a response, it was insufficient. Nevertheless, the strike persisted amidst these concerns.
With no response forthcoming from their employer, the miners and their supporters escalated their efforts to a new stage. They protested in front of a luxury hotel owned by Ferhat Nasıroğlu, Cape Bodrum Luxury, and made statements in Ankara aimed at the Ministry of Labor and Social Services. Meanwhile, they issued warnings to Koç and Sabancı, the major stakeholders of Fernas, and communicated their situation outside the Polish Consulate in Istanbul.
Wherever they went, they were met with solidarity from the public but received no response from state institutions or from Ferhat Nasıroğlu himself until the very final days of their 54-day-long strike.
As the striking miners and their cause garnered increasing public attention and acts of solidarity, the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK), a state agency, blocked access to the official Facebook page of the Independent Miners’ Union on September 9th, without any prior notification.
In response to this censorship, the Independent Miners’ Union declared,
“We dare you to shut down our union.”
Barefoot walk to Ankara and the vow of silence
Despite the relentless efforts of the party-state and Fernas Mining to put an end to the strike, the miners decided to march to the capital, Ankara.
For seven days, they walked barefoot from Soma to Ankara. Though their path was obstructed as they approached the city’s outskirts, the miners and their supporters managed to break through and continue forward. Meanwhile, during the ongoing protests in Ankara, Nasıroğlu, leveraging his position as a Member of Parliament, used his platform to speak out against the striking miners and the Independent Miners’ Union in an attempt to discredit their struggle.
On the 50th day of the strike, the miners, frustrated by the lack of resolution despite repeated explanations of their grievances, initiated a hunger strike, vowing to remain silent until a solution was found. Before going silent and lying on the concrete floor in Ankara’s city center, they announced:
“From now on, we will be silent. Now it’s your turn to speak up for us.”
Widespread solidarity and victory at last
In response to the strikers’ announcement and call, approximately 40 solidarity vigils were held across 18 cities, and countless solidarity videos were posted on social media—some organized or posted by political groups and collectives, and others by individuals supporting the miners’ cause.
On the third day of the miners’ hunger strike, and on the 53rd day of the overall strike, under increasing public pressure, the owner of Fernas Mining and MP Ferhat Nasıroğlu finally agreed to hold a meeting to negotiate with the workers.
After two successive meetings between the workers’ delegation and the company administration, the Independent Miners’ Union announced that they were finalizing their strike and hunger strike with a decisive victory achieved without compromise. The miners returned to Soma victorious, under the leadership of the Independent Miners’ Union, welcomed back to the basin by their families, members of the Independent Miners’ Union, other miners, and community members.
Translators: Zeynep Payzanoğlu & E. İrem Az