ISTANBUL, Turkey September 19 –“In the last couple of days, two of our friends fell from the roof. One of them is in surgery right now. Our working conditions are horrible!” That’s how one worker described the strike of 2,000 workers at Istanbul’s third airport. The strike began on September 14, after two shuttle buses crashed, injuring 17 workers.
Turkey is a key player in the rival U.S. and Russian imperialist ambitions in the Middle East. As this imperialist rivalry sharpens, workers in Turkey are being squeezed and exploited harder and harder.The striking workers are demanding greater workplace safety, fair and timely payment, and clean living conditions. While the striking workers are not, in this moment, calling for communist revolution, Turkey’s bosses clearly recognize the danger of a rebellious and militant working class.
Police arrest 600 workers
Days into the strike, Turkey’s bosses responded by sending their police to raid the workers’ barracks in the middle of the night to look for the strike leaders. They fired tear gas and arrested about 600 people. Today, a judge ordered 28 workers and union activists held in jail on multiple criminal charges. The bosses are calling the strikers “terrorists” and are trying to hire strike-breakers to replace those who have been detained.
One newly hired worker said, "They told me that the protestors were provocateurs, traitors and terrorists. The person on the phone told me that people like me deserve to work at the airport and make a living…I've been unemployed for eight months." Workers’ conditions at the airport work site are murderous. According to Ahval News, 400 workers have been killed as the bosses rush the 30,000 total workers there to open the airport by October 29, Turkey's Republic Day. Turkey’s bosses screw workers, play both imperialist sides The new airport will be the largest in Europe and a showcase for Turkey’s president Erdoğan. Turkey’s bosses are cracking down on the working class as they flirt with the two big rival U.S. and Russian imperialist bosses competing for control over the Middle East.
On the one hand, Turkey is a member of the U.S. imperialist NATO alliance, is a key base for U.S. air strikes into Syria, and has sent ground troops to attack Kurdish forces fighting there. On the other hand, Turkey’s recent agreement to purchase Russia’s advanced S-400 ground-to-air missile defense system is not only a breach of U.S. imperialism’s sanctions against Russia, but a potential security threat. As Turkey’s military also possesses the U.S.’ new F-35 stealth fighter, the U.S. fears that mixing the Russian air defense system with the U.S. jets could expose the vulnerabilities of the F-35.
This fear recently prompted U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell to warn Turkey’s bosses that relations could be damaged “in a way that would be very difficult to repair” should they complete the S-400 deal  (The Defense Post, 6/27/18).
Sharpening imperialism, growing fascism
After a failed coup attempt in 2016, President Erdoğan issued to a State of Emergency, sending hundreds of workers, soldiers, journalists and activists to jail. Since then there has been a dramatic rise in workplace injuries and deaths, and an increase in child labor. Workers’ protests are often met with police violence.The airport is being built by a consortium of Turkish companies with close links to the government and contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
 However, many sub-contractors have gone bankrupt as a result of the ongoing economic crisis and the Turkish lira dropping by 40 percent, leaving many workers unpaid or not paid on time. A typical day for the workers means having to wait for hours in the rain for shuttle buses to take them to and from the worksite. Meanwhile, their dormitories are full of bedbugs and fleas. “Those working for the main contractors are being paid, but most of those working for sub-contractors cannot get their salaries,” one worker said. “[They] call this a world project, but then fail to feed the workers [while] earning millions of dollars.” Another worker said that workers for sub-contractors are not allowed to eat at the on-site cafeterias. “[We] are not even allowed to go to the toilet. We do not have refrigerators. We are taking showers by using the water coming from ponds near the constructions site.”
Airport shut down has potential worldwide impact Turkey’s bosses play their deadly games playing the U.S. and Russian imperialist sides off of each other, while workers in Turkey are in the cross hairs of growing war in the Middle East, economic crises, and the sharpening divide between US and Russian imperialism that will lead to even wider imperialist wars and racist and sexist attacks.Meanwhile, these airport workers are daring to shut down production at a major imperialist crossroads- giving this strike an international impact, whether the workers realize it or not. A strike movement here could confound the Turkish, U.S. and Russian bosses’ regional power ambitions in the Middle East. That potential gives this strike an anti-imperialist aspect that ALL workers have a stake in supporting!Ultimately, what the striking workers are up against is this entire capitalist system and its imperialist rivalries- rivalries that cannot ever meet theirs or any workers’ needs. Ultimately, only communist revolution can resolve these sharpening imperialist wars in favor of the airport workers, and the entire international working class.
The Progressive Labor Party fights for an international anti-imperialist communist movement for all workers around the world. We call on all workers to support the Istanbul construction workers strike, and to build the movement to end imperialism and wage slavery!