Over the past 40 years of the Kurdish issue, we have experienced a period of conflict that has caused unprecedented suffering. The Kurdish issue is a result of the policies of denial and destruction in the Middle East and our country for over 100 years. Today, we firmly believe that laying down weapons and the end of the conflict mark a critical historical moment for the reconstruction of our peoples living together in equality and freedom.
Recent developments have once again demonstrated that the Kurdish people’s demands for access to public services in their mother tongue, education in their mother tongue, and democracy in local government are integral to Türkiye’s common democratic agenda.
Undoubtedly, the change in political power’s change in rhetoric is a result of pressure from the joint struggle that the Kurdish people and the forces of labour and democracy, and the oppositional forces have been waging for several decades.
As the Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK), we are honoured to be the organised voice of peace and democracy in our struggle. Indeed, since the very beginning of its creation, KESK has struggled not only for the economic and social rights of public workers, but also against war. Today, at this historical moment, KESK declares that we will continue to be the voice of peace and to support this call so that there will not be another round of conflict that leads to nothing but deep wounds in our hearts.
In the coming period, KESK will fulfil its responsibility as a trade union to increase its struggle for peace and democracy as a social movement; it will actively take part in the process by acting together with other labour and democracy forces. As a labour organisation, KESK is fully aware of the fact that lasting peace is possible through the direct participation of the people and a labour-centred struggle. Acting in line with this principle, we believe it is essential that the process is inclusive and goes beyond the parliamentary aspect. The process should be conducted through a democratic process in which democratic and labour-professional organisations can share their inputs and make their voice heard. Furthermore, there needs to be an open and transparent process that society can follow to see what is happening.
In this context, we consider any of these developments not only as a political transformation, but also within the framework of the principles of labour, social peace and equal citizenship at the public level.
As KESK, we defend a democratic society where people live in peace, with the goal of a future free of war and exploitation, based on secularism and equality. Within this framework, our primary mission includes fighting against the trustees’ policy that denies the voters’ will and taking a united stance on the labour front for the repeal of the Emergency Decree Laws (KHK), and an end to unlawful dismissals. We will continue to support any social demands to ensure the release of political prisoners, the universal guarantee of democratic rights, and the strengthening of the will of the people to achieve co-existence.
The conflict also created divisions between people, damaged co-existence, and led to a favourable atmosphere for polarisation. These problems affected workers, e.g. labour organisations could not struggle in unity and their influence weakened. Hence, today in our country, all segments of society, from retirees to workers, from peasants to public employees, who struggle to make a living through their labour, are forced to live on poverty wages, which cannot be assessed independently of this fragmentation.
This process is also a historic turning point in which the people of the region have regained control over their destiny, and hopes for democratic politics and peace began rising. This development also opens the door to a process of re-examining the repressive regime in which anti-democratic practices in the history of the Republic of Türkiye—particularly the Anti-Terror Law, the Political Parties Law, and the denial of public services in the mother tongue—were legitimised.
We always reiterate this demand: Not a single person should lose his/her life on this land again; not a single person should be subjected to a system of war, forced migration, poverty and human rights violations. The healing of the wounds inflicted by war on women, children, the poor, peasants and displaced peoples can only be achieved through a genuine process of democratisation. For this reason, peace is not merely the silencing of weapons; it is also reconstruction, social reconciliation and the establishment of justice.
For a lasting and honourable peace, we must build a democratic Türkiye together through a process based on the participation of the people. For this reason, as KESK, we would like to emphasise the following: This peace process must never be dominated by any one-sided political agenda or narrow political interests. Peace should be the result of the common will and historical conscience of the people, not a political advantage. At the same time, we believe that this process necessitates a democratic solidarity that will ensure the elimination of all imperialist policies in the Middle East and enable the peoples of the region to decide their futures.
On the other hand, the ongoing arrests of mayors, trade unionists, and politicians, as well as the detentions, arrests, and pressures targeting journalists, intellectuals, students, and academics, serve no purpose other than to endanger the path to peace. This trend must end immediately, and elected politicians must be released.
As KESK, we will not only follow this historic step; we will also organise efforts to contribute to the institutionalisation of peace in the trade union movement, in workplaces, in the streets and cities. In this respect, our demands, which are necessary for the process, are clear, starting with the elimination of the anti-democratic practices imposed on us during the conflict:
- The implementation of a genuine and effective collective bargaining system,
- Ensuring that all public employees dismissed by emergency decrees are reinstated with compensation and reinstatement rights,
- Re-ratification and reintroducing the Istanbul Convention,
- Recognising the right to public services and education in one’s mother tongue at the constitutional level,
- Putting an end to the trustees’ regime and no intervention in local administrations, that is to say respecting the voters’ will,
- Annulling the emergency decree laws that prevailed during the conflict period and reconstituting the rule of law.
These are not merely demands; they are the necessary conditions for realising the people’s dream of a free and equal future. The construction of peace will be possible through social justice, the protection of ecological balance, the struggle of women, and the solidarity of labour organisations. We will stand against all anti-democratic practices in order for Türkiye to become a modern, secular, democratic state governed by the rule of law in the 21st century.
On this occasion, we repeat our call to the public: Let us embrace peace and unite on the front of labour and democracy against all the dynamics of war.
KESK – Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions Executive Committee