History of Promises: ILO and Turkey

PROMISES MADE BY GOVERNMENTS SINCE 1982

13th July 1982

Turhan Esener, the Minister of Labour, asked for the opinion of ILO (International Labour Organization) about the Draft Bill No. 274 on the Trade UNIONs and the Draft Bill No. 275 on Collective Bargaining Agreement, Strike and Lock-Out. As an answer ILO declared that the changes planned to be made in these draft bills were not in accordance with the ILO agreements.

30th April 1987

“I am not satisfied with the changes being prepared by the government” said William Simpson, Head of Freedom of Organization Department of International Labour Organization (ILO) after his meetings in Ankara concerning the legislations on trade UNIONs and the labour problems.

9th June 1987

“Turkey did not fulfill the promises made to ILO last year; the obligatory principles were transgressed.” said Şevket Yılmaz, President of Türk-İş, in his speech at the 73rd General Assembly Conference of International Labour Organization (ILO) held in Geneva-Switzerland.

10th June 1987

Mükerrem Taşçıoğlu, Minister of Labour and Social Security, made a speech at the 73rd General Assembly Conference of International Labour Organization (ILO) held in Geneva-Switzerland. Mentioning the basic problems in ILO agenda and the situation in Turkey, Minister Taşçıoğlu declared that they would keep their promises in accordance with the letter of guarantee they sent to ILO before.

11th June 1987

On the ground that the laws regulating labour and employer relations are incongrous with the democratic principals, Turkey was officially included in the agenda of International Labour Organization (ILO).

16th June 1987

In the International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of Application meeting held in Geneva-Switzerland, a general view is adopted that Turkey did not keep the promises made in the year and if the assurance for changing all of the laws would not be fullfilled, Turkey should be included in the special list of indictable offenses.

7th June 1988

Turkish government was included in the list to make a deposition to the Committee of Aplication due to the fact that the principles of International Labour Organization (ILO) Agreement No. 98, that was signed by Turkish government, were violated.

9th June 1988

“Main aim of Turkey is respect for human rights and justice.” declared İmren Aykut, Minister of Labour and Social Security, in her speech at the annual General Assembly of International Labour Organization held in Geneva-Switzerland.

1st April 1989

Various observations about DİSK and its affiliate trade UNIONs were mentioned and an amnesty for DİSK directors was demanded from Turkish government in the report of International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of UNION Liberties.

11th June 1989

It was declared in the report of International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of UNION Liberties that Turkey needed to make changes in the Constitution and relevant legislations about UNION liberties and labour rights.

22nd June 1989

İmren Aykut, Minister of Labour and Social Security, made a declaration about ILO’s action for blacklisting Turkey.

21st June 1991

İmren Aykut, Minister of Labour and Social Security, declared that they would make the arrangements in order to advance the labour regulations in her speech at the ILO’s 78th International Labour Conference General Assembly held in Geneva-Switzerland.

2nd February 1992

In the annual report prepared by International Labour Organization (ILO) UNION Rights Commission, it was demanded that Turkish government should regulate the ongoing legislations on a basis that would assure the freedom of association and membership and collective bargaining for the teachers.

10th June 1992

Mehmet Moğultay, Minister of Labour and Social Security, declared that Turkish government aimed to achieve an order which is more independent, participatory and democratic and based on human rights and essential liberties, in his speech at the General Assembly of International Labour Organization (ILO) held in Geneva-Switzerland.

1st July 1992

Mehmet Moğultay, Minister of Labour and Social Security, declared that the operation on the job security draft bill has not finished yet; but it was developed on the basis of 4 of ILO’s 12 basic agreements and affirmation of these agreements contributed the democratization aim of the government.

18th August 1992

İsmet Sezgin, Minister of Internal Affairs, declared in his press conference that they don’t have any plan to abolish the circular preventing public servants to assemble UNIONs and have UNIONist engagements. Sezgin added that only if the International Labour Organization (ILO) agreements in goverment’s agenda were affirmed they would abolish the circular.

“We sent the ILO agreements to the National Assembly.” said Mehmet Moğultay, Minister of Labour and Social Security, in the press conference in İstanbul and reminded the government program which states that the UNION rights of the public servants will be provided and the legal barriers will be removed. Moğultay added that due to ILO agreements, State Council declared its opinion that there’s no Constitutional obstacle preventing the UNION rights of the public servants.

1st June 1993

In the report of International Confederation for Free Trade UNIONs (ICFTU) about Turkey, it is declared that Turkey still could not overcome some legal problems and said “ICFTU reseaches show that laws still interfere the UNIONs. International Labour Organization (ILO) applied to Turkish government for unhanding the UNIONs but still did not get any positive sign.”

9th June 1993

After returned back from the General Assembly of International Labour Organization (ILO), Mehmet Moğultay, Minister of Labour and Social Security, declared that it was pleasing to be included in the ILO agenda and to have the opportunity to report their department’s works concerning ILO.

Within the framework of ILO Agreement No. 98, Moğultay declared that the violations of UNION rights basen on “September 12” laws would be discussed in the Application Committee.

25th June 1993

The results of meetings in Turkey with regards to the violations of ILO Agreement No. 98 within the context of ILO General Assembly were published and affirmed. In the resolution, it was emphasized that Turkey should abolish all laws and implementations that were contradictory with the ILO Agreement No. 98, including the “double barrier”.

Within the framewo
rk of the resolution, it was declared “The Committee demanded from Turkey, on the basis of the agreement, to provide the elimination of all contradictions between the legislations and the implementations and to inform ILO and Committee of Specialists about all developments in a detailed manner.”

12th June 1995

Türk-İş President Bayram Meral declared that ILO agreements about public servants were not implemented in Turkey, in his speech at the Geneva Conference of International Labour Organization.

15th June 1995

At the 85nd Labour Conference of ILO held in Geneva-Switzerland, Türk-İş President Bayram Meral and DİSK President Rıdvan Budak declared that they decided to struggle together for the solutions of the labour problems, for the necessary changes in the Constitution and for preventing the illegal working and non-UNIONization.

15th June 1997

Necati Çelik, Minister of Labour and Social Security, reminded that Turkey has accepted 5 agreements of International Labour Organization (ILO) out of 7 agreements concerning human rights and declared that the other 2 agreements would be affirmed in the National Assembly as soon as possible, in his press conference at Atatürk Airport after he returned back from 85th ILO Labour Conference.

10th June 1998

At the 86th Labour Conference of International Labour Organization (ILO), Nami Çağan, Minister of Labour and Social Security, declared that they were preparing a draft bill with 9 options concerning job security and they would submit it to the office of Prime Minister after the mutual agreement between the parties would be achieved.

7th June 2000

On the ground that ILO Agreement No. 98 about the freedom of association and collective bargaining was violated, Turkey was taken under investigation.

“We transformed many articles of the agreement into draft bills; we send some of them to the National Assembly and for the others we started the negotiation between the social parties.” said Yaşar Okuyan, Minister of Labour and Social Security at the 88th Labour Conference of International Labour Organization (ILO) held in Geneva-Switzerland.

7th June 2002

In the International Labour Organization report presented at the 90th Labour Conference held in Geneva-Switzerland, it was mentioned that the public servants in Turkey were thrusted from their UNION rights. ILO demanded from Turkey to provide the right of membership in a UNION and the right to strike for the public servants except for the Turkish Armed Forces and police.

6th June 2004

Murat Başesgioğlu, Minister of Labour and Social Security, made a press conference at Atatürk Airport before he left İstanbul for the International Labour Organization Conference in Geneva-Switzerland.

Başesgioğlu declared that they planned to make changes in the essential legislations concerning labour starting from the UNIONs Law.

4th June 2006

Murat Başesgioğlu, Minister of Labour and Social Security, made a press conference at Atatürk Airport before he left İstanbul for the 94th General Assembly of International Labour Organization in Switzerland and declared “As the government, we perpetuate the reforms we initiated in a determined manner in order to provide better working conditions and living standards on the basis of contemporary norms for our people.”