“No One Can Threaten the CHP or Disrespect Mayor Cemil”

Mayor Eşki Sends a Message to the Union from the Sanitation Workers’ Side

As the strike in İzmir entered its seventh day, Bornova Mayor Ömer Eşki delivered a strong message from the Sanitation Services Depot. Emphasizing that workers’ pursuit of their rights is entirely legitimate and expressing his full respect for the right to strike, Eşki criticized DİSK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey) for handling the process in a “threatening and inappropriate” manner. He stated, “No one can threaten the Republican People's Party (CHP) by saying ‘we’ll vote for someone else,’ and no one has the right to say to the Metropolitan Mayor, who received one million votes, ‘We’ll make you collect the trash.’”

Mayor Eşki visited the sanitation workers as they set out at dawn to clean Bornova. Speaking to the workers before their shift, he said, “The holiday is coming up, and holidays mean cleanliness. Due to the ongoing strike at the Metropolitan Municipality, we all have even greater responsibilities these days.”

Stating that he has a background as a unionist himself, Mayor Eşki referred to comments made by DİSK Aegean Region Representative Memiş Sarı, who had said, “With our families, we are 500,000 people—if we had voted for Hamza Dağ, he would have won.” Eşki responded:
“I have great respect for the strike process. Of course, it is only natural for workers to defend their rights and fight for them. Striking is a legal and democratic process, and we can only respect it. However, no one can threaten the CHP. No one can look at workers and their families as if they are sheep and claim, ‘They’ll vote wherever I say.’ They can’t say, ‘This place wins if I want, that place wins if I don't’ with such cheap rhetoric. I condemn this threatening and inappropriate attitude. Those who hope for piles of garbage in İzmir during the holiday will get the necessary response from the people of İzmir and the CHP.”

“Saying ‘I’ll Make You Collect the Trash’ Is Disrespectful”

Eşki stated that this behavior is tantamount to hijacking the people's will and commented on branch presidents whose remarks have sparked public backlash:
“When we speak out against those threatening the CHP, and they try to incite crowds to boo me in the streets, of course I’ll have a response. Putting aside what’s said about me, telling the Metropolitan Mayor of this city, ‘I’ll make you collect the trash, I’ll call you whenever I see garbage,’ is utterly disrespectful. No one can talk like that to a mayor elected with one million votes.”

“There Are Secret Enemies of Atatürk”

Another union representative, without naming names, accused Eşki and others of being “closet fascists.” Eşki recounted a phone call with the individual:
“I told him, ‘I have nothing to hide. I am openly a follower of Atatürk, and I will remain so. But while we are open about our support for Atatürk, others are secretly hostile to him. I won’t hesitate to stand up to them.’ He also called me an ‘inexperienced politician.’ But politics is not about being experienced or inexperienced—there are only cowards or the courageous. And I will continue to stand my ground with the same courage.”

Mayor Eşki also touched on the ongoing fifth wave of operations targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality:
“Every day we hear of another colleague being taken into custody. We no longer have faith in the justice system. Our friends are being treated as if they are war criminals or coup plotters. I hope this upcoming holiday becomes one where those waiting in prison are set free.”