The government’s stance in Soma

- First day: First official statements: “The company is a very serious one ... it passed several inspections ... There were no flaws.”

- Second day: No blame on the company. On the same day came the first statement from the prime minister: “Accidents are in the nature of mining ...Things like that happen everywhere in the world ... for instance in 1876 England.”

- Third day: No detainments, no questioning, no arrests. No intention of holding someone accountable. And the prosecutor said, “We have not put anyone under detention because those responsible have died as well.”

- Fourth day: A small u-turn in the government’s stance, with some weak voices saying, “If there is negligence, obviously we’ll take care of it.”

- Fifth day: Headlines in pro-government media challenging the first day of the government, “Who is protecting this mining company?”

- Sixth day: A change in the officials’ rhetoric; strong statements against the company, and in the meantime, the prosecutor finally finds those responsible who did not die in the accident: 18 person including high level managers are under detention.
Weddings continue in the country

There is mourning.

Flags are lowered.

All activities have been cancelled. Even the ceremonies for today’s May 19 have been decided to be cancelled.

But weddings of the children of parliamentarians continue.

What is this?

A game from the protesters with bad intentions?

It is our right to ask questions; to not trust and to investigate.

Of course we will ask questions.

- Are the numbers you have made public right?

- Are there any other workers in the mine?

But what we should refrain from doing is to take every claim as the truth itself.

Someone makes claims about the numbers, so many people died in the mine.

There is no proof, no documentation. What is there? Exaggeration.

A call to Taner Yıldız

Dear minister...

There are some stories in the media along the lines:

- He has only had tea and simit (Turkish-style pretzel) for the past five days.

- He has worn the same shirt for two consecutive days.

- He had tears in his eyes.

- He gave his jacket to a miner who was cold.

Dear Minister!

You need to tell them:

- What are you guys doing? 301 miners have died, why are you talking about my shirt?

- 301 households are in pain, why write legends about my simit?

- Get yourself together.

- Don’t forget your humanity for the sake of being praised.

Come on minister, tell them so.