“As if it was the first methane gas explosion, the first mine accident in Turkey.” For Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan reports over the mine explosion that killed 28 miners were "exaggerated". "As if", he said. No, the gas explosion that occurred at Karadon Mine, in Zonguldak, on May 17, was not the first mine accident in Turkey. It was one accident too much. And no, it wasn't the first gas explosion. It was one explosion too much. It was a reminder, the most tragic, of how miners do risk their life everyday to earn their living. It was a reminder of how mines are not safe, because safety (and safety of the workers in the first place) is not a top priority. Not for the mine owners, certainly not for Prime Minister Erdoðan, who coldly reminded us that a miner's life is not that important after all. "These incidents happen" said the Prime Minister "and you have to put them down to fate". No, it is not fate. It is the cutting in investment over safety that makes incidents more likely. It is considering the workers less and less important. Because first comes profit, and then people's lives. And then if an accident happen, well it's "fate".

Only slightly over a month ago, on April 5, 29 miners were killed because of an explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine, in West Virginia, in America. President Obama said that "the safety record at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine was deeply troubling" and added the company had "put their bottom line before the safety of their workers."

Obama went on saying that "The people of West Virginia are in our prayers. But we owe them more than prayers. We owe them action."

And he concluded by saying that "this tragedy was triggered by a failure at the Upper Big Branch mine, a failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue."

For the United States president then the "owners responsible for conditions in the Upper Big Branch mine should be held accountable for decisions they made and preventive measures they failed to take."

For Turkish Prime Minister “the coverage of the accident was exaggerate. We saw how it is exaggerated.”

The trade unions have decided to dedicate the general strike planned for Wednesday, May 26, to the dead miners. Because their death, like the death on every workplace is not 'fate', but the result of the continuous erosion of workers' rights.