Worker self-management in Turkey refers to experiences in which workers exercise direct control over the means of production and enterprise management, and organise decision-making processes collectively.
Such experiences have generally emerged in the aftermath of crises, closures, or situations in which employers fail to meet their obligations; they have taken shape through workers’ efforts to take over enterprises and sustain production.
Experiences of worker self-management in Turkey were observed in the 1970s (as in the cases of Alpagut and Yeni Çeltek) and after the Gezi protests in 2013 (as in the case of Kazova). Although these experiences did not develop into lasting and institutionalised structures, they have become part of the repertoire of action of the working class in Turkey as forms of struggle emerging from below.
Worker self-management in Turkey, while potentially an important form of struggle, remains limited within the current context, particularly due to political conditions. Nevertheless, these experiences offer important insights into alternative forms of production and organisation.