El-Sen, the north’s electricity authority (Kib-Tek)’s employees’ trade union, claimed on Friday that workers tasked with fixing faults at the Teknecik power station were prevented from doing so by police.

The union said police had been stationed at the entrance gates to Teknecik and at the entrances to substations across the north, and added that “Kib-Tek workers are treated as a terrorist organisation”.

They also claim they had been instructed to do so by Kib-Tek’s general manager Dalman Aydin.

Aydin was expelled from the El-Sen on Thursday after signing a 15-year extension to Kib-Tek’s procurement contract with Turkish energy company Aksa, with the union saying he had an obligation to consult with them before signing the deal.