Communist Party of Turkey: decisions needed to protect people's right to live healthy

1. In the face of the epidemic and the economic and social destruction it causes, it is imperative to plan all production and service supply centrally.

Necessary definitions for production and services should be determined and planned centrally in order to meet the basic needs of the people and to provide the continuity of social life. The control of if the production and service are held in accordance with these definitions and plans, should also be centralized.

2. All banks and financial institutions should be nationalized without any charges. Central use of all financial resources should be ensured in line with the needs of the public.

Consumer loans and credit card debts of all wage workers should be waived.

3. Offering the Unemployment Insurance Fund to the bosses should be stopped. The Unemployment Insurance Fund was created for the unemployed to benefit. No transfer should be made from this fund to the capitalists in the name of measures to be taken in the economy.

4. All investments and production in sectors that are not compulsory to maintain a social life, such as luxury consumption, should be stopped.

5. All domestic and foreign debt payments of the state should be stopped.

6. The Ministry of Health should establish scenarios for fighting the epidemic as soon as possible and determine the needs of staff, medical supplies, beds, and intensive care beds according to these different scenarios.

7. All institutions providing health services should be nationalized without any charge.

8. All enterprises producing medical devices and drugs should be nationalized without any charge.

The production of medical equipment, which will be critical in the epidemic process such as respiratory equipment, Covid-19 test kit, which is of great importance in the detection of the disease, and the hygienic materials and health equipment that will be used by the healthcare personnel to provide safe service should be initiated by the state and their widespread use should be ensured.

9. Some social facilities and hotels, which can be determined and used as health facilities, should be nationalized without any charge to meet the potential hospital and health facility needs.

10. All medical supplies and medicines that healthcare professionals and the public will need during the epidemic should be covered by the state free of charge. Healthcare professionals with health problems should receive paid leave throughout the epidemic period.

11. Planning of social services necessary for combating the epidemic such as cleaning in cities, continuous disinfection of the public areas, social aid, preventive health checks in the neighborhoods should be made. Resources should be allocated for this purpose and widespread employment should be provided.

12. Citizens who live and stay in unhealthy conditions should be provided with free state support, and an arrangement that will provide basic needs such as accommodation, heating, nutrition, and cleaning for all citizens should be started immediately during the epidemic.

13. All enterprises that impose sanctions such as layoffs, compulsory annual leaves, unpaid wages or unpaid leaves should be followed up and nationalized, if necessary. The safety of the workplaces for all workers and the jobs, rights, and wages of the workers should be secured.

14. The rights and wages of workers in all nationalized enterprises should be covered by the state and their job security should be guaranteed.

15. At least one of the parents of the children should be given paid leave during the shut down of the educational institutions.

16. The violence on the border with Greece, which puts tens of thousands of immigrants in a difficult situation and makes them vulnerable to all kinds of epidemics, should be stopped immediately.

Communist Party of Turkey

Central Committee

18.03.2020