Şireci Tekstil’s boss, Ahmet Şireci, was said to have paid only 9,431 liras in taxes in three years. He has been laying off workers in the last four months under the pretext of downsizing. The working conditions of the people still there are extremely poor.

Workers reached out to ANF and said that the purification filter for water was not changed unless a complaint was made, and that the water they drank tasted bitter and smelled. Even if the filter was changed, as seen in the photo the workers sent, it turned pitch black within a few hours. Although the workers said that the water had to be constantly supplied with a new filter because it came from large tanks, the factory management did not comply.

Bad quality food

The poor conditions at Şireci Tekstil are not limited to water. Workers said that most of the food was of poor quality. They were given leftovers from the evening meal or lunch, and most of the food smelled bad. In conditions where hygiene was disregarded, workers also reported that flies, cockroaches, worms, or hair sometimes came out of the food. Workers also said that the hard-boiled eggs they were given hatched chicks.

Boss paid less tax than worker

Boss Ahmet Şireci was inundated with state incentives and tax reductions, while conditions for his workers worsened. It was revealed that Ahmet Şireci paid 9,431 liras in taxes in three years. The newspaper Evrensel reported that the company, which invested 2.9 billion TL in cotton production in 2023, was provided with interest support, 10-year income tax withholding support, customs tax exemption, VAT exemption, 10-year insurance premium support, and 12-year insurance premium employer share support. In addition, it was stated in the news that a 90 percent tax reduction was made for the company, and it was emphasized that 55 percent of this investment (1.6 billion TL) was covered by the treasury and that the incentive given to the company in 2022 provided customs tax exemption and VAT exemption.