Turkey – Joint Statement From Unions and Organizations: “Let’s Organize May Day in Taksim!”
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a statement published on Yeni Demokrasi.
Numerous unions and organizations, including Partizan, issued a joint statement calling for a unified, massive, and powerful May Day to be organized together in Taksim. Recalling that exactly 50 years have passed since the first May Day in Taksim Square, the organizations stated, “Today, on its 50th anniversary, Taksim Square should be the address for a May Day that is true to its historical and class essence.”
The full statement, titled “Let’s organize May Day in Taksim!”, reads as follows:
“There are only a few days left until May 1st, 2026, the day of unity, struggle, and solidarity of the working class. We, as trade unions, democratic mass organizations, leading and militant workers, and all representatives of the working class, bear the responsibility of organizing this May 1st as a day of the masses and of powerful struggle.
We are in a period where workers’ actions are intensifying and the attacks of capital against the working class are escalating. Workers and laborers are being subjected to insecurity, worsening exploitative conditions, and a life on the brink of starvation. While imperialist war rains death upon the peoples of the region with its bombs, the threat of a nuclear war is drawing closer every day. In our country, amidst wars and the destruction of nature, a NATO summit is being planned, a summit of the NATO that is responsible for the murder of peoples. War promises hunger and unemployment to workers and laborers. In such a period, it is the responsibility of all of us to carry the voice of the class to Taksim in the strongest possible way.
A united, massive, powerful May Day should be celebrated in Taksim!
For the first time in our country, the working class took to Taksim Square on May 1, 1976. Today, on its 50th anniversary, Taksim Square should be the location for May 1st, in accordance with its historical and class character. As representatives of the workers who feel this responsibility, we have discussed May 1st, 2026, on various platforms. In these long-running discussions, the statement “May 1st, 2026, should be in Taksim” has gained significant weight.
As a matter of historical responsibility, in such a critical period, we must have the resolve to respond to all attacks against the working class, laborers, and oppressed peoples. This responsibility compels all pro-labor forces to shoulder the struggle of the working class in the most effective way on May 1st.
“We call on the pioneering and militant workers, all our class brothers and sisters, to bring the May Day agenda to factories, workplaces, businesses, industrial areas, and working-class neighborhoods. For the 2026 Taksim May Day, we call on unions, confederations, union branch representatives, political parties, democratic mass organizations, and everyone who stands with the workers and takes responsibility for the future organizing of this will together!
On its 50th anniversary, let’s organize the May Day in Taksim together, shoulder to shoulder!”
Signatory organizations:
Militant trade unions, Alınteri, Independent Revolutionary Class Platform, Dev Tekstil, Revolutionary Youth Associations, Revolutionary Movement, Revolutionary Liberation Platform, Revolutionary Student Union, Revolutionary Party, Labor Power Association, Socialist Party of the Oppressed, People’s Houses, Workers’ and Laborers’ Union, Workers’ and Laborers’ Women’s Commissions, İşçi-Sen, Kaldıraç, Kızıl Party, Komün, Köz, Struggle Unity Platform, Partizan, Proletarian Revolutionary Stance, Federation of Socialist Assemblies, Party of Socialists, Socialist Struggle Initiative, Söz ve Eylem, TOMİS, Umut-Sen, Call for a New World.
