Filiz Zeyrek/JINHA

ADANA – We asked the women those who work as agricultural laborers, what means the celebration of May 1 for them. Women said that they had to work on May 1, “May 1 comes and it’s welcome. However, we don’t know for who it is.”
Laborers celebrated May 1 in many cities and told their demands. However, female and children laborers, those who work in the fertile soil of Çukurova, weren’t in the areas on May 1. They were in orange groves and they said, “We’ll go hungry if we don’t work.” And continued to talk by saying, “No ones consider us as laborers.” Female agricultural laborers demanded their working conditions to be improved.

Nergiz Yılmaz, who came from Cizre to Adana 30 years ago, works in orange groves in the Karayusuflu village of Adana’s Seyhan district. Nergiz said she couldn’t send her children due to economic problems. She told us the difficult working condition, “We come to orange groves early morning and return to home at 5:00 p.m. It is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. We have difficult times, but, there’s nothing to do. We have to work.

“I had to work on May 1 in orange groves. If we don’t work one day, the other day we’ll be hungry. I just demand health insurance and a lowering of working hours. I wish I were in Kurdistan, in my lands. If I could be there, I would work in my lands and wouldn’t drudge for someone else. However, they have ensanguined Kurdistan. There is no difference between Kurdistan and Syria now. Enough, the war must be ended.”

Zeynep Samuk is another agricultural laborer. She said that her husband went to celebrate May 1, but she could go. Zeynep has worked in the fields for 26 years. She said, “They say that May 1 comes, ok, it’s welcome. However, we don’t know for who it is. We had to work on International Workers’ Day. I voted for the AKP many times, however, this didn’t help anything. We work when we vote and we work again when we don’t vote. I don’t celebrate on the religious festival, too.”


13 years old Melek Kılınç is one of the children who work in the orange groves. She reacted to unequal conditions by saying, “I have worked in the orange groves for one year. However, we receive less money compared to our labors. The government doesn’t help us. I must go to school now. However, we work here due to system. We didn’t attend May 1, because we had to work. We have to work everytime. The holiday of May 1 isn’t for us, it is for government officers. They can celebrate May 1.”


Gülistan Yılmaz (15) had to leave the school for work. She said, “Sometimes, I look at the people with the same age of me. The life is only garden for me. We are stuck between unreal dreams. May 1 makes no sense for me, my mother and other laborers. No ones consider us as laborers. I mean no ones know who we are. We are nothing for everyone.”

(fz/ck/dk/gd)