Gazete Duvar journalists visit colleagues at Sputnik Istanbul bureau to support their strike

Gazete Duvar journalists have visited their colleagues working at the Sputnik Istanbul bureau on the 15th day of their strike. Sputnik Turkey reporters have been protesting in front of their office for over two weeks now, demanding a decent pay increase in the face of soaring inflation. Sputnik has started laying off its unionized employees in Turkey due to "downsizing" after they decided to go on a strike.

Thursday August 31 2023 01:37 pm

Duvar English

Journalists from Gazete Duvar on Aug. 31 visited their colleagues working at the Sputnik Istanbul bureau on the 15th day of their protest.

📢 Grevde 15.Gün

2.haftayı geride bıraktık. Kararlılığımız da, enerjimiz de yerinde. Mücadeleye devam✊🏽

Biz kazanacağız!#SputnikeSendika #SputnikGrevde pic.twitter.com/cqw64FJ8Bf
— Gazeteciler Sendikası (@TGS_org_tr) August 31, 2023

Gazete Duvar journalists stated that they stand with their colleagues, who have been on strike for 15 days in front of their bureau at Süzer Plaza, and will continue to show solidarity.

Sputnik Turkey journalists went on strike on Aug. 17 due to a disagreement of collective bargaining talks. They hung the paper of the decision to strike in front of Sputnik Istanbul and Ankara bureaus on July 24.

After the decision to strike, Sputnik Turkey, established by the Russian government-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya, has begun laying off its unionized employees due to “downsizing.”

The government-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on Aug. 3 reported an annual inflation rate of 47.83 percent in July, whereas the independent inflation group ENAG put the figure at 122 percent. Millions of Turks cannot make ends meet due to soaring inflation and increasing cost of living.

Turkish Penal Code (TCK) penalizes anyone pressuring workers from becoming or not becoming a member of a trade union or preventing union activities.

The unionization rate, which was 58 percent when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, dropped to 14 percent in 2022.