ILO delegation to visit Turkey over Soma disaster

Hacer Boyacıoğlu ANKARA

A miner is rescued after the Soma mine blast May 13. AFP Photo / Bülent Kılıç

A delegation from the International Labor Organization (ILO) will visit Turkey this week to lend its support and offer cooperation over the Soma mine disaster.

The U.N. agency that works to ensure the implementation of international labor standards across the globe will discuss work safety and health with Turkish authorities and advise the related bodies over the aftermath of the disaster that killed 301 workers on May 13.

The three-member delegation will be made up of high level managers, along with technical specialists, who will present their cooperation and support to Turkish unions.

There was no clear information about whether the ILO delegation will visit Soma after having official contact with authorities in the capital of Ankara.

Questions were raised over the mine incident in Soma, arguing the country’s poor workplace safety standards stems partly from its failure to ratify the ILO’s Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

A separate ILO delegation was scheduled to meet with unions and the Labor Ministry as part of the negotiations on opening the 19th Chapter, which regulates social policy and employment, with the European Union, but the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş) and the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) protested the meeting jointly organized by the European-Turkish Parliamentarians Council, the ILO and the Labor Ministry.