The owner of a fireworks factory where seven workers died in a 2020 explosion argued in court on Monday that he should not face a severe sentence, pointing to a broad trend of leniency afforded defendants in workplace accident cases, the BirGün daily reported.
On July 3, 2020, a deadly explosion occurred at a fireworks factory in the town of Hendek in Turkey’s Sakarya province. Days later, on July 9, a second blast occurred while firefighters were still working to extinguish the flames, resulting in the death of three gendarmes and injuries to 10 others. Investigations later revealed that smaller incidents had previously taken place at the factory, but proper safety measures had not been implemented.
Factory owner Yaşar Coşkun was convicted of “conscious negligence” in 2022, but the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, saying Coşkun should be tried for “probable intent,” which carries heavier penalties. The retrial began Wednesday at the Sakarya 1st Penal Court.
Coşkun compared his case to the Soma mining disaster, where 301 miners died, yet lighter sentences were given to defendants. He used other industrial accidents, such as an explosion in 2024 in a pasta factory, to argue that no one else was imprisoned, implying selective punishment in his case.
The victims’ families criticized the defense’s argument, noting that references to a lack of detentions or trials in other cases only highlighted the broader absence of justice to date. They rejected any attempt to justify the Hendek explosion by pointing to past instances of impunity afforded to defendants and reaffirmed their decision to press charges.
“In the Hendek explosion case, the sole detained defendant, factory owner Yaşar Coşkun, requested release by citing the Soma disaster and other cases across Turkey where workers lost their lives, but no one was held accountable,” said local journalist Izel Gözde Meydan.
“The perpetrator of the massacre, factory owner Yaşar Coşkun, openly said he expected the same leniency shown to other defendants of workplace disasters. He even said 301 people died in Soma, whereas ‘only’ seven people died in his factory; therefore, a lesser sentence should be given to him,” said one social media user.
People have been suffering from lax work safety standards for decades in Turkey, where workplace accidents are nearly a daily occurrence. In the worst work-related accident in the country’s history, 301 miners lost their lives in an explosion in Manisa’s Soma district in May 2014.
According to the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) Turkey recorded at least 1,897 deaths in work-related accidents in 2024.
İSİG General Coordinator Murat Çakır had earlier said the reason for the record number of fatalities in work-related accidents has to do with the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he said aim to turn Turkey into a source of cheap labor for Europe.
According to Çakır, workers feel obliged to work under unsafe conditions fearing that they will become jobless and unable to support their families.
A yearly report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on labor rights reveals that Turkey is one of the 10 worst countries in the world for working people.
