Turquía - Trade union leader interrogated for giving interview abroad (2011)

On 19 October, Mehmet Sıtkı Dehşet, President of the Urfa branch of the KESK-affiliated teachers’ union Egitim Sen, did an interview on the well-known Dutch news show «Eén Vandaag». In this interview, he commented on the problems with child labour in the hazelnut sector in Turkey. He told the interviewer about an investigation carried out in 2007 which had found that about 70.000 children in the region of Şanlıurfa finished school «early» every year, and started «late», resulting in them helping their parents with the harvest during six to eight months. After the Turkish authorities found out about this interview, they interrogated Dehşet because they believed ha had exaggerated the figures, which would amount to «just» 35.000. At the year’s end, Mehmet Sıtkı Dehşet still risked losing his job.

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