Türkiye marked International Labor and Solidarity Day on Monday, May 1 with the president and other top officials extending messages to mark the occasion.
In a message published on his Twitter account, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recalled that he is the son of a veteran father who earned a living as a captain in the Turkish coast guard.
Stating that he worked at Istanbul Electric Tram and Tunnel Company (IETT) in his youth, Erdoğan said, “I know very well the joy of labor, sweat and sharing a warm loaf with friends. We have never forgotten our roots and where we came from in our struggle to serve our country through politics.”
“We have always tried to deliver your rights. We declared May 1, which has been exploited for years, as a holiday for you; we have made a labor day in a real sense of the word,” he said.
Erdoğan underlined that in recent years Türkiye had made strides in union rights, wages, and worker health and safety. “We have increased the minimum wage, which was TL 184 ($126) in 2002, to TL 8,500 ($437) today,” Erdoğan added.
“We have excluded those earning minimum wage and others with income equal to the minimum wage from tax-paying. Whatever we have done, we have done together, accomplished together, we overcame difficulties together by standing side by side,” the president noted.
Touching upon the “Century of Türkiye” vision and upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections set for May 14, Erdoğan noted he “believes in support of you, my fellow workers.” “I sincerely congratulate you on May 1, Labor and Solidarity Day,” he concluded.
Top officials, including Vice President Fuat Oktay, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin, and Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık, similarly issued messages, marking the occasion of Labor and Solidarity Day.
“I congratulate the Labor and Solidarity Day of our workers who contribute to the growth and development of our country,” Oktay said on Twitter.
“I congratulate the Labor and Solidarity Day of our fellow workers who play an important role in the growth, development, and strengthening of our country with the sweat of their brow,” Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin said in his message on Twitter.
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, first emerged as an event commemorating workers’ labor worldwide on May 1, 1886, when a group of workers in the U.S. held a massive strike for an eight-hour workday.
Türkiye’s first official May Day celebrations were held in 1923.
