Bangladeshi workers hold protest in Güzelyurt demanding their unpaid salaries from Cypruvex

Nearly 50 workers Bangladeshi nationals working at the Cypruvex company located in Güzelyurt on Thursday afternoon held a protest and marched towards the Police Department demanding for their unpaid salaries. 

The orange cutting workers on Wednesday afternoon marched to the Güzelyurt Police Department on the grounds that they had not received their money and their passports had been confiscated.

Answering questions from Gadara Media during the march, the workers said, “We are marching towards the police with no money, no job, no passport.”

They demanded that they be paid the amount they were supposed to receive from Cypruvex.

Stating that they wanted to take their money and passports back and return to their country they said ‘If you will give us our money back, we will return, but if you won’t, we won’t return because we are in a difficult situation.’”

Speaking on behalf of the workers, Republican Turkish Party (CTP ) Güzelyurt District Chairman Çağlar Gulamkadir, in his statement to the media, noted that the workers were saying that they were defrauded and that they were not receiving minimum wage. “The workers who came here started working 5 months ago, but they say they haven’t received their salaries for 3-4 months, Çağlar  said.

Gulamkadir also said that workers at Cypruvex work in difficult conditions and have complaints about issues such as food, medical assistance and living conditions. He also stated that workers whose visas are about to expire are also being asked for additional money.

The workers, who stated that they paid 8,000 Euros to the intermediaries to come to the north of Cyprus, said, “Cypruvex brought us here with the promise of work,” and also complained about their living conditions. 

The workers stated that they were ready to go to their country if the 8,000 Euros paid per person were returned, and that they were worried about how they would return to their country if only 2-3 months of their salaries were paid, since they had already come with debt.