Izmir Branch of Office Workers' Union (BES), affiliated with KESK, reacted to the midnight evacuation of Dokuz Eylül Social Security Center (SGM) with a press statement held in front of SGM. BES Izmir Branch Press and Public Relations Secretary Erdal Özçelik said, "Those who attempt to lock the building without waiting for the judicial decision are condemning the people of Izmir to a bureaucratic ordeal while locking SSI services."
BES Izmir Branch Press and Public Relations Secretary Erdal Özçelik stated that the building was hurriedly evacuated at midnight and said, "The Dokuz Eylül Social Security Center (SGM) service building, which is the heart of the public service in Izmir and where the retirement transactions of tens of thousands of insured people from Izmir are carried out, is being given away for the Izmir Democracy University Rectorate building upon the instructions of the Minister of Labor, without considering any public interest. While the lawsuit and legal process regarding the cancellation of the transfer continues, Labor "The hasty evacuation of the building until 01:00 last night upon the minister's verbal instructions, as if stealing property from a fire, is a complete legal freak and administrative tyranny. Those who attempt to lock the building without waiting for the judicial decision are destroying the social security memory of this city while locking down SSI services and dooming the people of Izmir to a bureaucratic ordeal," he said.
Emphasizing that Dokuz Eylül SGM, which was evacuated upon the instruction of the Minister of Labor at midnight, was not an ordinary building, Özçelik said:
"The primary responsibility of a public administration is to make its own spaces where education services are provided safe and to take the necessary technical measures. It is unacceptable for the university to avoid its obligation to fix a building that it claims is unsafe for its own students and staff by seizing the service building that is actually and actively used by another institution. Moreover, this building transferred by SGK with the protocol will not be used as a classroom or lecture hall for the students, but directly as the rectorate building and administrative office. In other words, the University Rector uses the students as an excuse entirely for his own life safety and comfort." It has an earthquake-resistant building allocated to it. Undoubtedly, education is an important public service, but the social security service is also a basic and continuous public service provided directly to the citizens. There is no abstract or empty building planned to be used in the future. Dokuz Eylül SGM is an active public facility where the citizens are actually provided with social security services. Since the EYT regulation in 2023, the retirement transactions of more than 150 thousand insured people are shouldered in Izmir and the citizens are not victimized by working day and night. "This operation, which is carried out with verbal instructions without even waiting for a judicial decision, is a direct usurpation of the right of access to service of hundreds of thousands of insured people, retirees, widows and orphans from Izmir."
Stating that SGK employees work in buildings that are not earthquake resistant, Özçelik continued as follows:
"In a first-degree earthquake zone like Izmir, while the Rector has allocated safe buildings for himself, SGK workers are condemned to risky buildings that have not even been reinforced and are in danger of collapsing at any moment. Unfortunately, this incompetence and indifference is not the first. Although we have warned many times about stones falling from the walls of SGK Annuity Facilities buildings, they did not even put up a protection net, taking shelter in the excuse of 'there is no budget' each time. Stones and concrete pieces were thrown from those buildings many times." The Ministry and the SSI Board of Directors, who say 'there is no money' to allocate a budget for work, people and life safety, stand aside when it comes to taking precautions, but for some reason act at lightning speed when it comes to evacuating and dismantling the most solid and most qualified building of the city. Moreover, while the demand for a nursery, which is the most basic legal right of the staff, was rejected for years on the grounds of 'lack of physical space', this huge public building was demolished. "His appointment to the rectorate has deeply injured the justice and conscience within the institution."
BES Headquarters General Organization and Education Secretary Mustafa Güven also said:
"All public institutions serving in Konak had weaknesses in strengthening against earthquakes until 2020. The SSI Provincial Directorate is not earthquake-resistant. There are three buildings in Konak that are earthquake-resistant. One of them is the Dokuz Eylül SGM building. The Minister is giving it away to his own friend. From here, I want to say this to the Minister of Labor. Whose property are you giving away to whom? This is the property of the worker, the people of Izmir. Izmir MPs are giving away the public sector in Konak They did not protect their buildings. We, as the union, met with the SGK many times. They told us, 'There is no positive decision from the board of directors regarding the transfer of the Democracy University.' "We will continue our struggle."
