Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Türkiye (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the observations of the Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Associations (TİSK) received on 23 February 2015, as well as the observations of the TİSK and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 28 August 2015. It further notes the observations of the IOE received on 1 September 2015, which are of a general nature. The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) received on 1 September 2015 and the Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK) received on 4 September 2015. Finally, the Committee notes the observations from the TISK, the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-IŞ), the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (HAK-IŞ), the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Servants’ Unions (MEMUR-SEN), the Confederation of Turkish Public Employees’ Union (Türkiye Kamu-Sen) and KESK which the Government sent with its report and which the Committee will consider as soon as it receives the translation.

Civil liberties. The Committee recalls that for a number of years it has been commenting upon the situation of civil liberties in Turkey. The Committee notes from the ITUC observations that five leaders of trade unions representing a wide range of workers, charged with inciting the public to illegally assemble and demonstrate, were acquitted by the Criminal Court of First Instance No. 28, in Istanbul on 24 March 2015.

The Committee further notes, from the latest observations of the KESK, serious allegations of numerous dismissals, harassment, retaliatory action, arrests and police assaults against the KESK and its members for the exercise of legitimate trade union activity. The Committee requests the Government once again to provide information on the measures taken to ensure a climate free from violence, pressure or threats of any kind so that workers and employers can fully and freely exercise their rights under the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed comments to the KESK observations in this regard.

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and join organizations. The Committee recalls that, in its previous comments, it had requested the Government to keep it informed of the steps taken to review Act No. 4688, as amended by Act No. 6289, either through an amendment to the Act or through separate legislation, so as to ensure that senior public employees, magistrates and prison guards are afforded their basic rights to organize. The Committee notes the observations of the KESK, welcoming the Constitutional Court decisions of April 2013 and January 2014 which abolished certain restrictions on the right of public servants to organize, while denouncing the remaining restrictions that affected hundreds of thousands of public servants. The Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to review section 15 of Act No. 4688 as amended with a view to ensuring to all public servants the right to form and join organizations of their own choosing.

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities and formulate their programmes. The Committee recalls that, along with the Committee on Freedom of Association, it has been requesting the Government to ensure that section 63 of Act No. 6356 was not applied in a manner so as to infringe on the right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities free from government interference. The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government on a Constitutional Court judgment rendered on 2 July 2015 which found that the Council of Ministers’ Decree under section 63 of Act No. 6356, suspending a strike in a glass-making company for 60 days on the grounds that it was disruptive to public health and national security, was in breach of the trade union rights guaranteed by article 51 of the Turkish Constitution. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the use of section 63 following the judgment of the Constitutional Court and any relevant court judgments.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.