By Ozcan Yildirim

ANKARA

A Turkish trade union announced on Thursday that it will not attend an international Washington meeting in March.

Ergun Atalay, head of Confederation of Turkish Trade Union, told Anadolu Agency that they refused an invitation by International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) for attendance in a future meeting in Washington.

Atalay cited the recent IMF [International Monetary Fund] debate in Turkey for the refusal.

“We do not want to come side by side with the IMF to underline that we do not want to be exposed the austerity projects again,” he said.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) claimed Turkey would seek to negotiate with the IMF after the local elections set for March 31.

On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rebuffed claims by the opposition that Turkey would seek new IMF loans, saying that era was long gone.

Highlighting refutations by Turkish presidential and government officials, Atalay said: “We think the recent statements that Turkey and IMF will make an agreement are not right.”