Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: solidarity with the victims and the Turkish unions

As these lines are written, more than 36,000 thousand people[1] have lost their lives in Turkey, and more than 5,000 in Syria due to the earthquake on the 6^th of February. More than 160,000 have been forced to evacuate their homes. With a massive humanitarian crisis adding to the devastation,  the EESC Workers’ Group sends their deepest solidarity to the victims and their relatives, and to our friends and colleagues in Turkish trade unions, which are currently leading an international trade union solidarity movement[2] to provide assistance to the victims as quickly and effectively as possible. The situation is worsened by the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees present on both sides of the border, and also dramatic on the Syrian side, still ravaged by civil war. Vis-a vis the evolving humanitarian crisis, providing assistance to the survivors and hundreds of thousands of displaced people and supporting reconstruction becomes now emerges as the most important task.

We join the call for solidarity at all levels to continue, with our member organisations and wider civil society supporting the efforts, and express our total support to our colleagues in the Turkish unions and their continued struggle for democracy and workers’ rights.

[1] https://www.euronews.com/2023/02/15/death-toll-in-massive-earthquake-in-turkey-and-syria-continues-to-rise

[2] https://www.ituc-csi.org/solidarity-letter-earthquake-turkey