Yatağan workers will not surrender!

Yatağan workers will not surrender!
The whole country will stand on their side!

The resistance of the workers of Yatağan, a state-run coal plant in the Aegean province of Muğla continues. The residents of Yatağan, Yeniköy and Kemerköy, the sites of reactors and coalmines, are standing in solidarity with the workers in their resistance.

After learning that the company, Elsan Electric, which had won the bid, is on its way to take over the plant, the workers have blocked the entrance to the power plant. They have locked themselves up inside the plant and have not left the site since then.

The workers are determined to not surrender these plants to plunder by some domestic or foreign capitalists.

They have been resisting.

The AKP government, which apprehended the fact that the workers were not succumbing to their decision, got furious and brought the privatization of the plant into the agenda. A while ago, they completed the sale operation of the coal plant in a hurry.

Despite that the bosses did not dare to come to Yatağan, thanks to the resolute stance of the workers.

Months after the announcement of the finalization of the bid, the government and the bosses have gained their courage to seize what belong to the workers and people.

The workers and residents of the area are getting ready to “meet” these un-welcomed visitors. The workers of Yatağan and their families have a message to the Turkish people:

“Stand with us!”

We have to pay attention to their call.

Because they are resisting so that our resources are utilized for the well-being and the benefit of people. They are not resisting with the aim of simply keeping their jobs. They are trying to prevent the capitalist plunder of the institutions which were created by public resources and, thus, belong to people.

They resist in order to prevent our country from being a dependent economy in terms of energy. They are struggling to stop the privatizations, which are the primary reasons of the dependency of the country to foreign energy resources.

They stand on the side of nationalization against the capitalist looting.

They have witnessed the consequences of the privatizations in Soma, where more than 300 hundred mine workers were massacred in the hands of a private mining company. They are struggling to make sure that Yatağan doesn't become a new Soma. They are struggling for the nationalization of the mines.

They are resisting against the unsafe working conditions. They know how the capitalists looted TEKEL, a state-owned tobacco company, a few years ago. They are resisting because they do not want to share the “fate” of the TEKEL workers, who lost their jobs after privatization.

They are resisting because they are humans. They are resisting to protect the mine site on which they planted locust and olive trees. They are resisting for the social facilities, where they enjoyed solidarity, and for their schools and nurseries as well. They are resisting for their future. They do not want the nature and human life to be destroyed by toxic waste.

Hereby, we warn the bosses and the AKP government, which is encouraging them:

The plants belong to the workers. The plants are common property of all people. Do not even attempt to set your hands on Yatağan. Do not come to Yatağan to do that.

Yatağan workers will not surrender!
All country will be on their side!

Communist Party, Turkey
Central Committee