GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

will not do is go and organise where someone else is organised, so if the RMT

are organised on particular ferries around the UK, then we work with them, we

do not work instead of them. The RMT and Unite will be very much UK

generic, so there is a place for both in effect, because UK is not our thing

really. We represent a lot of UK people, but because they are not protected

under the UK legislation we have to make sure that things are happening in

Europe and internationally. It is just different mechanics really.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks very much indeed.

KURDISTAN

THE GENERAL SECRETARY: We have a long, long tradition in the movement

generally, but particularly in the GFTU which had the role of being the

international arm of the movement when it was first founded, that despite all the

problems that we have got, always trying to extend a hand of friendship to

brothers and sisters overseas and you will know that we have been able to

highlight over the years a number of countries and struggles which perhaps the

movement generally has not known a great deal about or has neglected. We

built, for instance, recently good relations with the trade union movement in

Vietnam.

Over the last couple of years we have become more aware of the situation

facing the Kurdish people and, of course, we have more recently become

aware of the drive basically to fascism in Turkey and the tyranny that is being

imposed on trade unions and public sector workers have been sacked,

lecturers have been sacked and, of course, progressive MPs are now in prison

in Turkey. So we have become more aware of that. We did some work on

Kurdistan at the Youth Festival, we had a presentation to our Executive and we

have got the big Kurdish Festival in July, so it is a real honour for us to be

joined today by two brothers from the Kurdish community, Zinar Demeni, who

has lived in Britain for a long time and is helping us with the festival and has

just brought all the 27 Kurdish groups into the Kurdish Solidarity Campaign, but

to address us this afternoon is Berdan Öztürk who is a member of the Turkish

Parliament for the HDP party, many of whose MPs are now languishing in jail,

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