Episode
15 June 1970: June workers resistance
- Published
- Jun 15, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 78
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/on-this-day-in-working-class-history-6766530/episodes/15-june-1970-june-workers-resistance/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-this-day-in-working-class-history-6766530/15-june-1970-june-workers-resistance.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
On this day, 15 June 1970, one of the biggest strikes in Turkish history took place after the government introduced two laws which made it more difficult for workers to change unions, in order to keep workers in the moderate Türk-İş union federation rather than joining the more militant DİSK federation. Up to 150,000 workers in Istanbul walked out, joined by others in Ankara, Izmir, Izmit and elsewhere. Police and soldiers attacked the workers, killing at least four workers, including Abdurrahman Bozkurt, Yaşar Yıldırım, Mehmet Gıdak and Mustafa Baylan and injuring nearly 200. The government then enacted martial law for three months, and thousands of workers were sacked, but resistance continued and in 1972 the new laws were annulled. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8693/15-16-June-workers-resistance Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon . If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory . See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/today Browse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/date Check out our Map of historical Stories: https://map.workingclasshistory.com Check out books, posters, clothing and more in our online store, here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com If you enjoy this podcast, make sure to check out our flagship longform podcast, Working Class History