As Türkiye heightened security measures in anticipation of Labor Day on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry announced the capture of 58 suspects in nationwide operations linked to the terrorist group PKK. Suspects are accused of plotting to exploit Labor Day rallies for the group’s propaganda. Earlier, Turkish media reported that a senior leader of the group urged supporters to "take to the streets" on the occasion.
Peaceful Labor Day events have been hijacked by far-left groups and sympathizers of the PKK in the past, forcing authorities to shut down certain venues for celebrations. Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul is among them. The Interior Minister announced earlier that the Square would remain closed to large crowds, but labor unions may be represented with a small number of members if they desire to.
The square has been the scene of a brutal massacre of Labor Day revelers in 1977, when gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on a crowd, killing 37 people. This led to a ban on celebrations at the square for years, as well as a ban on Labor Day celebrations in general by the military junta that seized power in 1980. Under the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Labor Day has been an occasion in some years for far-left groups to attack police.
The Interior Ministry announced that all major roads leading to Taksim and routes to the main squares would be shut down on Wednesday as part of security measures.
The main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), repeatedly called for the government to reverse the ban on Taksim. At the same time, Duran Kalkan, a senior leader of the PKK, urged supporters "to flow into streets, squares for Labor Day celebrations." "Let them turn into a day for the struggle for freedom of leader Apo," he said in a video, referring to the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan. CHP’s Istanbul branch chair called people to join the party’s supporters for an unauthorized march to Taksim Square on Wednesday.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a social media post on Tuesday that police launched operations in 11 provinces against suspects involved in PKK propaganda on social media and those planning to incite riots during Labor Day. Police also seized guns, from pistols to AK-47 rifles during raids.
May Day first emerged as an event commemorating the labor of workers worldwide on May 1, 1886, when a group of workers in the U.S. held a massive strike for an eight-hour workday.
Since the 1890s, May 1 has been celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.
In Türkiye, the first mass May 1 celebrations occurred in the 1910s during the Ottoman era in events held mainly by cotton, grape and port workers in Istanbul, Izmir and Salonica.
A mass public celebration of Labor Day was reinstated by the AK Party government in 2009, and civic society organizations and labor unions are allowed to hold rallies at Taksim Square. Rallies in 2010 were peaceful, but after the ban was reinstated in 2012, protests again turned violent, with rioters clashing with police.