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Prof. Dr. Vedat Işıkhan, Minister of Labour and Social Security Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı
Ambassador Malena Mård, Embassy of Sweden in Türkiye
Ambassador Yönet Can Tezel, Embassy of Türkiye in Sweden
Dear Minister Vedat Işıkhan,
The Swedish Trade Union Confederations, LO, TCO and Saco, strongly condemn the arrests of trade unionists, journalists and opposition activists in Türkiye.
Among those arrested by the Turkish authorities are several members from The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) and the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions (KESK), which are affiliates to the European and the international trade union confederations ETUC and ITUC. This includes Remzi Çalışkan, Vice President of DISK and President of the general services union Genel-İş. The arrests are arbitrary and a clear violation of the UN Labour Organisation's (ILO) core conventions on trade union rights which Türkiye has signed and consequently is obliged to respect.
LO, TCO and Saco express strong solidarity with the democratic trade union movement in Türkiye and therefore we call on the Turkish authorities to respect the fundamental rights of workers, trade unions and civil society and demand the immediate release of Remzi Çalışkan, Kemal Göksu and others arbitrarily detained in Türkiye.
Yours sincerely,
Johan Lindholm, President LO Sweden
Therese Svanström, President TCO Sweden
Göran Arrius, President Saco Sweden