The increase in utility prices, taxes on regular people, rate hikes on privatized services, higher cost of food items have caused protests against the government in Turkey. However, all protests were met with brutal police crackdown
As everything becomes more expensive in Turkey, the protests against the AKP religious government of president Tayyip Erdoğan mounts more pressure by the day on the right-wing rulers.
The increase in utility prices, taxes on regular people, rate hikes on privatized services, higher cost of food items have caused protests against the government in Turkey. However, all protests were met with brutal police crackdown.
Even the demonstration of women dancing against violence against women faced harsh police attacks with women being dragged by the police and detained.
These protests have been labelled as the organizing of extremist militants. However, as the daily price hikes hit everybody, especially the poor, it became obvious that the complaints against the government were not manufactured by some unknown terrorists as the government claimed.
The latest demonstration against the price hikes and extra regulations, especially the gas and diesel hikes came from the truck drivers. Saying together with wage cuts the latest increases in gas and diesel prices have made life unlivable, the drivers staged simultaneous demonstrations across the country.
Turkey saw drivers refuse to drive their vehicles and take to the streets in Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Izmir, Hopa, Kırıkkale, Karaman, Eskişehir, Konya, Antalya, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Hatay, Mersin, Nevşehir and Çorum provinces.
It was surprising that a demonstration was even attempted in Konya, a far-right, religious area where the current government enjoys a very high rate of support. However, with the start of the new year certain new rules that force electronic tracking, installation of a tachograph device, and data sharing was not received well with the drivers. When the drivers staged a protest at the Konya General Truck Garage the police attacked as they always do to any peaceful demonstration in Turkey. The drivers tried blocking the Istanbul highway which caused the police to start detaining the drivers in handcuffs.
Sendika.Org News (M.B.)