A very brief update on Amnesty’s response to the Soma Mining Disaster this morning:

1. Amnesty has highlighted that the tragedy should have been avoided and calling on authorities to investigate.  Andrew Gardner, Researcher on Turkey at Amnesty International, states:

This was a tragedy that should have been avoided. The long history of deaths in mines in Turkey raises chilling questions over workers’ safety. The fact that the government rejected recent calls by parliamentarians to investigate serious work-related accidents is nothing short of shocking. They are playing with people’s lives

2. I wrote a blog for Amnesty-USA’s Human Rights Now outlining the reasons why this was not simply “an industrial accident” but represented basic human rights concerns.  I noted that Turkish industrial safety has declined at a shocking rate under the AKP, despite advances in technology.  I also highlighted the crackdown on protestors which has followed the tragedy in Soma.  A video of some of the events of yesterday, can be found below.

Remember to follow us on facebook and twitter for new updates.  Some useful twitter accounts:

Turkey Researcher Andrew Gardner @andrewegardner
AI Turkey Campaigns & Advocacy Director Ruhat Sena Aksener @ruhatsena
AI Turkey Director Murat Cekic @muratcekic
Amnesty Turkey @aforgutu
AI-USA Turkey Action Network @AIUSA_TURKRAN
AI-USA Turkey Country Specialist Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat

Howard Eissenstat
St. Lawrence University