Six months ago, two human rights organizations asked the High Court of Justice to allow 800 Turkish workers employed here by a Turkish company, Yilmazlar, to switch employers, alleging that the firm had mistreated them. The workers petitioned the court because the state had refused permission for them to switch employers. But at the request of Yilmazlar and the state, the hearing has been postponed repeatedly, most recently to July 5. Meanwhile, the workers must choose between staying at Yilmazlar and being exploited, or quitting and risking deportation.

Yilmazlar's presence in Israel stems from Israel Military Industries' contract to upgrade tanks for the Turkish army. In exchange for this contract, Israel promised Turkey a certain amount of business. Pursuant to this promise, Yilmazlar is renting out Turkish laborers to Israeli contractors here.

In their petition, the Hotline for Migrant Workers and Kav La'Oved charged that Yilmazlar had failed to pay its workers, and forced them to sign promissory notes allowing the company to seize their assets in Turkey should they quit. Therefore, they argued that the Turks should be able to quit Yilmazlar, just as other foreign workers are allowed to leave their employers. But the state argued in response that the deal with Yilmazlar is a unique contract stemming from the IMI deal, one with implications for Israel's foreign relations. Therefore, the workers should not be allowed to switch employers.

The petition, which accused the state of abetting human trafficking due to its stance, was filed on November 29, and the court scheduled a hearing on January 25. But Yilmazlar's local attorney, Tal Benenson, requested a postponement, saying he had been called up for reserve duty. His service was later canceled, but the hearing was postponed until February 16.

The hearing actually took place four days later, but it proved a mere formality: The court decided that IMI should be added to the petition as a respondent, and to give it time to prepare its response, scheduled a new hearing on April 5.

This time, the state requested a postponement, saying its attorneys were overburdened by the flood of petitions against the disengagement. The court agreed, but requested that the delay be brief. However, Benenson then said he was going abroad for a month, so the hearing was pushed off until May 15.

That hearing was later postponed to July 15, and the state already has requested that it be postponed again, on the grounds that attorney Orit Koren will be in classes that day.

In her response to the postponement request, Hotline attorney Naomi Levenkron argued that Yilmazlar recently has moved to seize assets of workers who have quit, and attached a copy of one of the promissory notes the workers had signed. But Yilmazlar, whose name appears nowhere on the note, insisted it has never asked workers to sign such documents, and argued that the note must be a private contract signed by the worker.

The Hotline added that some workers who quit have already been deported, since upon resigning, they lost their legal status here. Others have filed suit against Yilmazlar.

Benenson rejected the organizations' accusations against Yilmazlar, calling them "tendentious and false." A good example, he said, is the promissory note allowing the worker's assets to be seized, "which has no connection whatsoever to Yilmazlar. The company is under close supervision by seven agencies, including the Turkish and Israeli Labor Ministries, and they inspect it every day."