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Working at the Ankara City Hospital in the capital city, healthcare workers from seven occupational organizations held a protest for their employee personal rights today (January 22). While health workers were applauding in protest, police officers intervened into their protest.
In a social media message shared by the Ankara Medical Chamber, it was announced that several health workers, including Ankara Medical Chamber Chair Dr. Ali Karakoç and Executive Board Member Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu, Health and Social Service Laborers' Union (SES) Ankara Branch Co-Chairs and Progressive Healthcare Workers Union (Dev Sağlık-İş) members were taken into custody in the police intervention.
Baskılar bizi yıldıramaz!
— Ankara Tabip Odası (@ankaratabipoda) January 22, 2021
Hakkımızı aramaya devam edeceğiz!
Ankara Tabip Odası Başkanı Dr. Ali Karakoç ve Yönetim Kurulu Üyesi Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu, SES Ankara Şube Eş Başkanları ve Dev Sağlık-İş'lilerin de olduğu çok sayıda kişi gözaltına alındı! pic.twitter.com/jnBgYdY2DH
While the SES Union announced that its eight executives were detained, Ankara Medical Chamber has announced that Karakoç and Uğurlu have been released from detention later in the day.
Statement by Turkish Medical Association
Releasing a written statement about the police intervention and the detention of health workers, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) underlined that they were detained while using their Constitutional rights: "We, as the Turkish Medical Association, demand the immediate release of our colleagues and health workers who used their Constitutional rights."
"It is our responsibility and Constitutional right to lay claim to our labor and to say that we do not want to lose any more fellow health workers; this right of ours cannot be prevented," the TTB stressed.
Expressing its determination to to tell the truths and to voice the demands of health workers, which have been disregarded during the pandemic, the TTB reiterated its call for the immediate release of all detained health workers, including Ankara Medical Chamber Chair Karakoç. (DŞ/SD)
