Eğitim Sen
Eğitim Sen (full name: Turkish Eğitim ve Bilim Emekçileri Sendikası , Union for Education and Educational Workers ) is a union of teachers and other training workers in Turkey . It was founded on January 23, 1995 as a merger of the education unions Eğitim – İş and Eğit – Sen and is a member of the trade union umbrella organization KESK and Education International.
Prohibition Procedure
In 2004, a ban proceedings were initiated against the largest educational organization in the country. This decision was justified by the organizational statutes, which demand "[...] the defense [of the right] of individuals to training in their mother tongue". It was alleged that by making this statement the organization violated Article 42 of the Turkish Constitution, which stipulates that Turkish citizens may not be taught and taught any language other than Turkish in educational institutions as their mother tongue. The organization was asked to remove the incriminated sentence from its statutes. Eğitim Sen refused, however, on the grounds that this was not compatible with joining the European Union.
After a long and controversial legal battle, on May 25, 2005 the “Grand Plenary Assembly” of the Court of Cassation overturned the judgment of the Labor Court, which had rejected a ban, and referred the case back to the court. In a new ruling, the labor court overrode the court of cassation and did not grant the ban.
Eğitim Sen has meanwhile deleted the controversial passage from the statutes.
In 2008, the organization's official website was blocked for a certain time at the request of Adnan Oktar in Turkey because the Eğitim Sen had published a press release there criticizing Adnan Oktar's (free) distribution of the creationist atlas of creation to Turkish schools.
Judgments of the ECHR
The European Court of Human Rights has in at least one decision certified members of the union that their right to organize has been restricted. In September 2009 it was decided in the case of Güldeniz Kaya, Ahmet Seyhan and Saime Özcan that both Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 13 of the ECMR had been violated.
On September 25, 2012, the ECHR ruled on the motion to ban Egitim-Sen. The decision said: “Eğitim-Sen was founded in Ankara on January 13, 1995. According to the union, it has 167,000 members, divided into 90 sections in 430 cities. It is affiliated with the KESK ( Kamu Emekçileri Sendikaları Konfederasyonu ), Confederation of Trade Unions in the Public Sector […] ”As regards the motion to ban the union, the court took the view that“ the planned action against the complainant was an interference of the national authorities in his right to freedom of assembly. ”The court unanimously decided that Articles 10 and 11 of the ECMR had been violated and ordered compensation of 7,500 euros.
Criminalization campaign in late summer 2016
The failed coup in mid-July 2016 was followed by a well-planned and broadly based campaign of intimidation and repression against the political opposition in Turkey, which particularly affects trade unions and other civil society associations and organizations: thousands, including those organized in unions, teachers and academics, especially in the Kurdish part of Turkey, were suspended on September 8, 2016, probably because they took part in a day of action against war and hundreds of Eğitim Sen members were arrested because, as Prime Minister Yildirim put it, they were somehow interwoven with terror. For fear of repression, many people gave up their membership in Eğitim Sen or tried to flee. The former General Secretary Sakine Esen Yilmaz went into hiding in the spring and left the country to apply for asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany. In Turkey, she faces a 20-year prison sentence. In November 2016 - supported by trade union representatives from the Federal Republic, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus - around 100 trade unionists met for a symposium of the Eğitim Sen in Ankara. Its President Kamuran Karaca reported that the union, on the pretext of supporting the coup attempt, was the target of vicious investigations by the AKP government. Many Eğitim Sen members took part in the 77-day strikes and demonstrations in the city of Samandag / Hatay for the reinstatement of the dismissed teachers. The Ministry of Education then partially revised its decision.
Personalities
Between 1991 and 1993, Nebahat Akkoc was the chairwoman of Diyarbakir District.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Constitution of Turkey ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Teachers Union Threatened With Closure Because of Controversial Laws ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Message from the independent communications network BIA dated September 17, 2009 ECHR: Turkey Guilty of Disregarding Union's Rights . Accessed September 29, 2012. The judgment in English is available here .
- ↑ a b The judgment is only available in French , accessed on September 29, 2012
- ↑ Successful strike. Retrieved February 9, 2017 .
