At the anniversary of the earthquake of August 17, 1999 with the 7,4 at the Richter scale, which occurred in the Marmara region and caused destructions in Istanbul, Kocaeli, Golcuk, Duzce, Sakarya, Yalova and Bolu and in which almost 30.000 people died, the labourers took to the streets. Hundred of thousands had lost their relatives, their houses and their jobs in this earthquake.
In the evening of August 16, commemoration acts took place in the cities of Izmit, Adapazari and Golcuk. The Association of the Victims of the Earthquake of Kocaeli, trade-unions and several other organisations gathered in front of the branch of the Merkez Bank in Kocaeli and made a demonstration to the monument of the earthquake. During the demonstration they shouted: "Izmit, do not sleep, do not forget the earthquake, and do not let it be forgotten!" In front of the memorial they hold a minute of silence for all those, who lost their lives in the earthquake.
At August 17, the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed ( ESP ) organised an action in front of the municipality of Istanbul where it declared, that the state is the responsible for the disastrous results of the earthquake, as it did not undertake any measures in spite of knowing the risks very well. The activists of the ESP shouted slogans like: "The murder is not the earthquake but the state" and "Down with capitalism, a dignified life will come in socialism!" In the statement read out at the event, it said the matters of planning and control of the city should be carried out by the organisations of the corresponding professions in a common, scientific work and be not linked with any kind of profit or market question. The activists also claimed the right of dignified housing for everybody.
The branch of the Human Rights Association ( IHD ) Istanbul also made a statement, which said: "The truth, which was revealed after the earthquake, is, that the state did not have any preparation for such a big catastrophe."