JINHA

MANİSA – Thousands gathered to remember the first anniversary of the Soma mine disaster in Manisa province yesterday. The disaster, in which 301 workers died from workplace safety neglect in the mine, was one of the deadliest workplace killings in Turkey's history.

Nearly a year after the May 13 disaster, thousands gathered in the small town for a rally. Politicians from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Republican People's Party (CHP), union reps and NGOs joined the demonstration, called by the close relatives of those lost.

"This isn't fate; it's murder," said Naciye Kaya, widow of miner Mustafa Kaya, speaking at the rally. The crowd held photographs of the dead miners. "Our spouses went there for a day's bread and their corpses came back to us. Where is the mayor? Where is the state? Where is the energy minister? Where are the mine inspectors?"

Gülsüm Kav, of the platform "We Will Stop Women Homicides," said their group came as women in solidarity with the miners' families. She drew a comparison between the wave of femicides and the massacre of workers under the AKP government.

With the next hearing in the trial of Soma Mining Company officials upcoming in June, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Izmir MP Ertuğrul Kürkçu said there was little point in expecting the courts to deliver any real justice for the deaths. 45 suspects are being tried related to the disaster.

(ck/fk/cm)