Worker at the Soma coal mine testifies: ‘Slavery-like conditions’ in Soma mine.

Worker at the Soma coal mine testifies: ‘Slavery-like conditions’ in Soma mine.(HD).

Statements from a worker at the Soma coal mine, which became a death trap for 301 miners last week, have raised more questions about work conditions at the site, as even the most basic needs of employees are apparently not met during work hours.

“There are no defined breaks for meals,” said Sefa Köken during an interview on private broadcaster CNN Türk, adding that only group leaders decided when to eat and that miners had to bring their own food and water.

Köken added that no sanitary facilities were installed at mines and that every miner stayed underground for eight hours non-stop.

“God gives them strength and they have to stand such conditions. Orders, pressure and slavery is common at the mines, as well as insulting. They always want more,” he said.

Köken confirmed claims that miners were taken to local rallies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to act as supporters. “Everyone goes to work in the morning. Then they tell you to stop and go to the AKP meeting. They say you will get your salary. Everyone is forced to applaud and wave [party] flags,” he said.

“These people have no other profession than mining. This is why they fear … Everybody has debts,” he said.

Köken claimed that he was fired from another mine because he testified about poor conditions after a deadly accident in 2007.

Pro-AKP "paper" Akit: " Soma boss' son-in-law is a JEW, Jews own 25 percent share in mine."

Pro-AKP "paper" Akit: "Soma boss' son-in-law is a JEW, Jews own 25 percent share in mine." (Akit).[GoogleTranslate]

"AK Party confidential partners have" shaped distortions posed the Soma Coal Inc. 's 20 percent of the registered abroad Saffir Investments and Tilag Investments companies was understood to be. Tragedy that has the mine operating Soma Inc. from the company's partnership structure when viewed Alp Gürkan son Can Gürkan 's 25 percent, Alp Gürkan 17 percent, Müzeyyen spoiled Asafra valve 's 5 percent individual stocks there. Shares albeit less than one in ten; Ismet Kasapoğlu and Ismail Hakki Klakavan attracts attention as a junior partner of the company. Soma's largest shareholder with a share of 53 per cent Tilag Mining Inc. is seen.

Become the key point where foreign subsidiaries as Tilag Mining attention. Alp Gürkan 's 53 percent share owned in Tilag Mining Investments Saffer from a registered foreign company has a share of 25 percent.

Yet another company registered abroad who Investments Tilag 14 per cent shareholder. So Soma imya Tilag major partner in mining 39 per cent share of overseas registered companies that are experiencing this tragedy by 20 percent in Soma means that subsidiaries.

Understood to be a UK-based provider Saffir Investment 'of Jewish origin, was allegedly partners.Hmmmm......Antisemitism thrives in Turkey.

Antisemitism score

Soma mine disaster - Oxygen sensors not active, no proper masks, mine already on fire: miners.

Soma mine disaster - Oxygen sensors in mine were not active, no proper masks: miners. HT: Todays Zaman.

The İmbat company worker who took part in the rescue operation maintained, based on what he saw in the mine during rescue efforts, that the masks the miners used did not seem to be checked regularly. 

“Colleagues who took part in the rescue operation saw when they reached the bodies that many of the victims' gas masks had not been activated. The cords -- which should be checked every 15 days -- that make the masks function automatically turned out to have been torn off,” the miner said.

According to a report in the Habertürk daily on Sunday, the issue about gas masks is not just a failure of proper inspection, but that the miners were not provided with proper gas masks that offer protection from carbon monoxide poisoning in the first place.

 “For the past couple of weeks, hot coal was being taken out of the mine, but nobody showed any interest in this. Production was not stopped. We felt our feet get warmer [while working in the mine] due to the coal. We felt that two weeks before the incident. 

Those who were responsible for safety came and saw it for themselves. ‘Leave here,' the safety people said, but the production manager said, ‘Production will continue,” said Mustafa Gülenç, who has been working in the Soma mine for two and a half years, when meeting with the Minister, the Doğan News Agency reported on Saturday.

Reportedly, other mine workers who also attended the chat with the minister confirmed the worker's comment, and the minister told his aides to note down what Gülenç had said.

Hot coal is an indication that there was already a fire burning in some part of the mine that apparently, the mining officials failed to take proper note of.Read the full story here.

Only 60% of Israelis have gas masks in case of chemical attack.

Only 60% of Israelis have gas masks in case of chemical attack.(TOI).

As the prospect of a US-led Western military intervention into the Syrian civil war dominated Israeli headlines on Sunday, a new report revealed that, due to budget constraints, some 40 percent of Israeli citizens do not possess government-supplied gas masks to protect them from a potential chemical weapon attack.

The post office said Sunday that requests have jumped fourfold in the last few days, likely the result of the news out of Syria.

Only 60 percent of Israelis currently have gas masks, a Home Front Command official told Channel 2. “We’re not 100% ready, of course,” he reportedly said. “There is no 100% defense… but every person should be equipped.”

In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a new $350 million initiative to equip every Israeli with a gas mask. However, official said that the shortfall was due to a “question of budget.”

Despite the lack of gas masks, the official went on to say that Israel is more prepared that ever before for the case of a chemical weapons attack. “We are prepared for any scenario,” he said, adding that Home Front Command forces are “continually learning and training” for such a scenario.

Since the reports of a mass chemical gas attack outside Damascus surfaced last week, debate has raged in the US and Europe about possible military intervention. Israel is said to be preparing for the possibility that, in response to an American attack, Syria might retaliate against targets in Israel. Syria is reported to have an arsenal of at least 100,000 missiles, some of which can target any area in the country.

In Israel, gas masks are distributed via the post office, which maintains an information page (Hebrew). Citizens can order and check availability by calling *2237.

Video - 'Iran will defend Syria, US & Israel should take that seriously'

Syria: Israel attacked military chemical weapons research center

Syria: Israel attacked military chemical weapons research center.(YNet).Israeli warplanes attacked a military research center in Damascus province at dawn on Wednesday, Syria's military command said, denying reports that the planes had struck a convoy carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
Local residents and experts claim the target was a chemical weapons production center.
Two people were killed and five wounded in the attack on the site in Jamraya, which Syria described as one of a number of "scientific research centers aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defense". The building was destroyed, the military command said in a statement carried by state media.
It said the planes crossed into Syria below the radar level, just north of Mount Hermon, and returned the same way. The Jamraya area contains many military facilities as well as what is likely a chemical weapons production and storage site. The area also houses training camps for Hezbollah combatants who are learning to operate advanced Russian weapons systems.
It was further noted that the attack occurred after terrorist groups tried and failed to take control of the site several times.
The Syrian army statement denied that the strike had targeted a convoy headed from Syria to Lebanon, instead portraying the strike as linked to the civil war pitting Bashar Assad's forces against rebels seeking to push him from power.
"This proves that Israel is the instigator, beneficiary and sometimes executor of the terrorist acts targeting Syria and its people," the statement said.
Residents near Damascus had previously told AFP that missiles had struck a military site for unconventional weapons on Tuesday at 11:30 pm.
According to them, the center, which is located in Al-Hameh, about fifteen kilometers north-west of Damascus, was hit by six missiles that were partially destroyed, causing a fire and killing at least two people.Read the full story here.

Western diplomat: Israeli air force hits target on Syrian-Lebanese border.

Western diplomat: Israeli air force hits target on Syrian-Lebanese border.(JPost).A western diplomat said Wednesday that Israeli air force planes attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight, at a time of growing concern in the Jewish state over the fate of Syrian chemical and conventional weapons. The source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, had no further information about what might have been hit or where precisely the attack happened. Earlier, the Lebanese army reported a heavy presence of Israeli jets over its territory throughout the night. "There was definitely a hit in the border area," the source said. The IDF has declined to comment on reports of an IAF strike on the Syrian-Lebanese border.Hmmm.... The time of talking seems to be over.Read the full story here.More here.

If this is accurate, it places the airstrike northwest of Damascus and south of Zabadan

Israel in Secret Talks With US Security Officials. According to Al Monitor, Israel has been engaged in high-level talks with US security officials, adding weight to the claim of an Israeli airstrike against a convoy reportedly carrying arms near the Syrian-Lebanese border: IDF intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi traveled to Washington for closed-door consultations with American officials Tuesday, Al-Monitor exclusively reported:Tuesday. Israeli officials would not comment on the focus of his consultations. Among those Kochavi met at the Pentagon Tuesday was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, defense sources told Al-Monitor. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense and security advisors have “recently held a number of security assessments” focused on developments in Syria, and “the potential shift in the balance of power between the IDF and Hezbollah, in the event that the latter would get hold of Assad’s WMDs,” Ynet’s Ron Ben-Yishai reported Monday.

Israelis Order Gas Masks as Syria Deteriorates.

Syrian scud plant

Israelis Order Gas Masks as Syria Deteriorates.(INN).By Maayana Miskin.The number of Israelis ordering gas masks has more than doubled in recent days, the Post Office reports. The increase comes in the wake of warnings from experts that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into Hizbullah’s hands. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the defense establishment is following the latest deterioration in stability in Syria with concern.
In particular, it is monitoring Syria's chemical weapons, he said. “We must look at our surroundings, at what is happening in Iran and its proxies, what is happening on other fronts, with the deadly weapons in Syria… The Middle East is not waiting for the outcome of the elections and does not pause while the government is assembled,” Netanyahu told the Cabinet this week. Since his statements were publicized 4,000 gas masks have been distributed, compared to an average of 1,400 per week. In total, 4.7 million gas masks have been distributed. The total population of Israel is nearly 8 million. One of the latest battlegrounds in Syria is the village of As-Safira, which is home to one of at least five chemical weapons storage facilities.Read the full story here.