DEPTH OF TRAGEDY

For Turkey, coal is an important source of energy. Fatal accidents in the extractive industry are not uncommon. However, the tragedy at the Soma mine is the largest in this country's history. The accident occurred at a depth of about two kilometres because of, preliminary information says, a short-circuit which resulted in a fire and explosion. There were 787 miners in the mine at that moment.  As of 17 May, the death toll is 300.

Cause and effect

The coalface where the tragedy occurred is not far from a city of the same name and 250 km south of Istanbul. The coal corporation Soma, which is one of the region's largest producers, owns the mine. The company has 5500 staff, and its production volumes are 2.5m t of coal a year.

Because Turkish coal-mining plants were unprofitable, the government sold most mines to privately-owned companies. Local unions unanimously argue that it was privatization that led to insufficient supervision, lack of compliance with health and safety regulations, and a fall in the level of professionalism of workers in the industry. Indeed, statistics shows that it was after the privatization that these kinds of frequent and big accidents and disasters began. This is quite explicable because private companies, unlike government agencies, are more interested in maximum profits and minimum costs.

Depending on miners' age and experience, their salaries at Soma range between 800 and 1,000 liras, the European equivalent of which is approximately 280 to 460 euros. The lower limit of this amount is barely the minimum salary set by Turkish legislation, 272 euros, while a miner's maximum salary does not even reach the Turkish average monthly salary - 529 euros. At state-owned mines, miners are paid much more - workers there receive between 700 and 1,000 euros. In addition, at privately-owned mines the average working time at the coalface is 45 hours a week, with overtime, as well as sick leave, normally not paid.

Statistically, one accident at work occurs every seven minutes in Turkey. According to the International Labour Organization, 1,172 mining deaths were recorded in Turkey in 2001-12, i.e. an average of about 100 deaths a year.

Misfortune draws people together

The tragedy in Soma did not leave the international community indifferent either. Representatives of the Western world were the first to offer their condolences. Azerbaijan was also among the first to voice its grief. The state flag was flying half-mast in Baku and other towns of the country and newspapers came out black and white on mourning day. Israel, who has not had very warm relations with Ankara in the past few years, also sent its condolences to the Turkish nation. In this regard, it is quite remarkable that Arab countries, with which Turkey's leadership has very warm relations, have not uttered even one word of sympathy.

Tragedy with political implications

Meanwhile, the tragedy entailed anti-government protests - clashes with police simultaneously took place in several cities. Thousands of people, relatives and friends of the dead miners gathered outside the mine. They accused the authorities of negligence and indifference towards workers. The grief-stricken citizens were outraged by the authorities' statement that there was almost no hope that people would be rescued from under the ruins. The flames were also fanned by officials' statements that mining job involves risk anyway and the incident should therefore be viewed as natural.

High tensions surfaced when the people who gathered at the mine tried to express their outrage to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who had arrived at the site of the incident. Things reached the point where footage emerged in social networking websites with notes claiming that when trying to break through the crowd, Erdogan insulted the protesters and even hit one of them. Some of those present also got it from the prime minister's guard. Cameras snapped Yusuf Erkel, an adviser to Erdogan, even kicking a protester several times.

Turkish analysts are pointing out that the tragedy at the mine occurred just a few months before the presidential election. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the grief for those killed at the mine may escalate into public discontent and then may also be taken over by political forces. It is noteworthy that immediately after the accident, Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) issued a statement saying that just 20 days before the accident, parliament had rejected the party's demand that a special commission be set up to examine the operation of mines in Soma. The initiative received the backing of representatives of all factions except the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Turkey will hold the presidential election on 10 August 2014 but it is still not completely clear who the main contenders for the top post are. Erdogan himself will most probably be the ruling party's candidate, but who will be his opponent? Although Turkey's governing party considerably strengthened its positions in the recent municipal elections, the AKP runs the risk of losing its high approval ratings following the tragedy in Soma. Meanwhile, the opposition CHP had announced its intention to nominate the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Hasim Kilic, but Kilic refused the nomination. The explosion at the mine may confuse all cards for politicians in solitaire, which is a confusing game anyway.

It is clear that it will be impossible to retrieve all victims of the horrifying accident from the coalface. Time will show whether the tragedy in Soma will spell political victims.