Soma - a year after the disaster

Wednesday, May 13, 2015 marked one year since Turkey's worst mining accident where 301 men lost their lives after an explosion and fire tore through the Soma coal mine. The majority of the men came from small villages in the surrounding areas in western Turkey like Elmadere and Koseler where many miners were killed in the disaster. A lot of the men who worked in the mine came from agricultural villages in the region, where the traditional livelihoods of harvesting tobacco and raising livestock have faded in recent years as the governing Justice and Development Party has sought to open up and industrialize the economy. Coal quickly became essential for the growth of the country, producing electricity, jobs and heat for the poor, who were regularly given free bags of coal during election campaigns. The miners that died left behind families, wives and children, that mourn for their loved ones daily. There is also a constant physical reminder of their pain -- carved into the side of the mountain of the Elmadere village is a new coal mine that hadn't opened yet.