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UNCLAS ANKARA 001680 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV AMGT MOPS ECON TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: CIVIL SERVICE STRIKE LOOMS NOVEMBER 25 
 
REF: ANKARA 1562 
 
¶1.  Two of Turkey's three civil service labor union 
confederations, KESK and KAMU-SEN, continue to make 
preparations for a civil service strike on November 25 to 
protest the lack of a legal framework for them to 
collectively bargain or strike.  The confederations still 
cannot predict the impact of the strike. 
 
¶2.  Namzi Guzel, president of the Transportation Workers 
Union, which is part of KAMU-SEN and is participating in the 
strike, gave us his assessment on how transportation will be 
affected.  On air transportation, he said that his union 
wrote letters to 200 airline companies warning that the union 
plans a work stoppage on November 25.  Guzel expects that 
ground services and services to park planes at gates will be 
impacted, but that the airline companies will probably take 
measures to increase private sector staff to keep these 
operating.  He suspects that most flights probably will be 
running behind schedule, though not canceled. 
 
¶3.  On rail transportation, Guzel said the industry is 
completely organized, and he can confirm that "no trains" 
will be running on that day.  On maritime transportation and 
ports, because Mersin port is privatized, the union will not 
affect operations there.  However, in all other ports cargo 
transportation probably will be slowed but not brought to a 
standstill.  Passenger transportation by ships will not be 
affected because that is not a public sector industry. 
 
¶4.  A representative from Kamu-Sen said that while they 
cannot predict the overall impact of the strike, they 
expected that the tax collection and public education (though 
not private education) sectors will be completely halted. 
Hospitals' emergency units and fire departments will not be 
affected, we are being told, even though they are staffed by 
public sector employees. 
 
JEFFREY 
 
           "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s 
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"