Turkey: Rights violations found in mine disaster case

ANKARA

A 2014 mining disaster in western Turkey happened due to procedures which violated the victims’ right to life, said the nation’s Constitutional Court in a full ruling released Monday.

According to the ruling published in the Official Gazette, an expert report on the May 2014 mining disaster ­– which killed 301 miners and injured 162 in Soma, in the Manisa province – blamed the accident on negligence and errors.

After the accident, Manisa prosecutors asked the Labor and Social Security Ministry to launch an investigation over whether there had been dereliction of duty among mining inspectors.

Probe did not go forward

The ministry did not greenlight the investigation, saying they had already faced a probe, but in December 2014, the Council of State overruled the ministry's decision.

Following the appointment of a new expert committee to investigate the disaster, then-Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Celik, based on the group’s preliminary findings, did not authorize another probe.

An objection to this decision was dismissed by the Council of State on the grounds that "there was no direct causal link between the actions of those who were subjected to the preliminary investigation and the occurrence of the mining accident."

Later, relatives of the accident victims filed individual applications to the Constitutional Court claiming that the lack of a thorough investigation constituted a violation of the right to life.

Top court ruling

As a result of the individual applications, the court ruled that the right to life, guaranteed under Article 17 of the Constitution, was violated.

According to its detailed ruling, the court said the expert report obtained by prosecutors detailed shortfalls in occupational health and safety at the mine where the incident occurred, and pointed to deficiencies that led to the incident.

The ruling also said the report emphasized that Labor and Social Security Ministry inspectors who inspected the mine from 2010 to the date of the accident were also responsible for it as they failed to reveal deficiencies or faults.

The court has sent a copy of the ruling to the Council of State to redress the violations and also to the Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry, as it is now called.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur