Hundreds of workers have been arrested for protesting
at the number of work-related deaths and poor conditions on the construction
site of Istanbul's third airport, one of President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan's mega development projects, unions said
Saturday."500 workers at the third airport have been arrested", Turkey's revolutionary unions confederation (Disk) tweeted
Security
forces had Friday dispersed a demonstration by hundreds of workers
outside the new airport, which was due to be completed in October, the
private DHA news agency reported.
The protesters complained of work-related deaths and accidents as well as poor on-site living and labour conditions.
The
opposition daily Cumhuriyet quoted live-in workers complaining about
fleas and bed bugs at the site. The airport construction and operating
company, Istanbul Grand Airport, issued a statement saying management
had met the workers and pledged to take measures to resolve the issues
quickly.
A
spokesman for IGA refused further comment on Saturday. The hashtag
supporting the workers, "we are not slaves" (#köledegiliz) was trending
strongly in Turkey on Saturday.
Dozens of security forces, backed by armoured vehicles, controlled access to the site on Saturday, AFP journalists said.
When
the first plane landed at IGA in June, Erdogan said the new airport
will be the biggest in the world with a first phase capacity of 90
million passengers a year going up to 150 million in 2023.
Some 35,000 people are employed on the project including, 3,000 engineers and administrative staff.
Twenty-seven
works have died at the construction site - 13 in work-related
accidents, the transport minister said during a press visit to the
airport last April.
However, several
workers, asking not to be named, told AFP on Saturday that the ministry
figures were far too low and that accidents were very common at the
site.