Price hikes should be withdrawn immediately. Privatizing policies in the energy market should be abandoned. Energy distribution should be done by the state, utility distribution companies should be nationalized. Especially in winter, electricity bill support should be provided to the citizen. The knife’s on the bone. We’ve had enough.
Protest against electricity hike in Marmaris, Turkey: “We are hurting now”
The increase in the electricity bills in Marmaris District of Mugla was protested in front of the electricity distribution company AYDEM with the song “Yuh Yuh” (translated: “Boo, boo”) performed by Selda Bagcan. “Marmaris Enough Now Platform”, “What is the reason for such an exorbitant increase for 2022? How much of profits from the electricity is given to distribution companies?”
According to ANKA News Agency’s Esma Turan, members and citizens of Marmaris town’s Enough Now Platform rallied in front of the electricity distribution company AYDEM and protested the increases to electricity and natural gas prices by waving their bills with the song “Yuh Yuh” (Boo!) performed by popular left-wing folk singer Selda Bagcan.
Marmaris Enough Now Platform made the following statement:
In our country, especially in the last six months, there has been a rain of hikes triggered by the unimaginable increases in the dollar exchange rate and it continues to rain down on those of us who are trying to get by with their labor. Every service, every product from needle to thread is constantly increasing. The government boasts that the fire in the dollar is now extinguished, but the fire in our kitchens continues to grow. On top of that, we were shocked by the ‘gradual billing system’ and the electricity bills that we received with increases of over 100 percent. Our friends who work at the minimum wage have faced bills that amount to more than half of their salaries before they have even received their paychecks. Our tradesmen and small businesses were billed much higher than their rents. We are all seeing double, triple bills, indiscriminately, from all walks of life, civil servants, retirees, workers, tradesmen.
“We’re hurting now”
We can extend the examples but saying this sums it up. In the old days, bills burned our pockets, now they hurt us, they take our lives. Warming, housing, nutrition, education, health, etc. rights are basic human rights. There is no natural gas in this city, burning coal is forbidden, so we use most of the electricity consumption for the need to heat up. This cannot be the equivalent of exercising our right to warm up, which is one of our most basic human rights with simple heaters or air conditioners!
“We reject market policies”
Now we ask: What is the justification for such an exorbitant increase for 2022? How much electricity is given to the distribution companies(by the government to be sold)? In fact, these are questions that are not too difficult to answer. We know that most of the numbers in our bills go to electricity distribution companies. We reject privatizing and market policies that do not coincide with the concept of a social state. The state cannot profit from the misery of its citizens; it cannot mediate the transfer of the labor and sweat of its citizens to large capital groups. We do not want to pay the price for economic and political instability in our country.”
Marmaris Now Enough Platform listed its demands as follows:
Price hikes should be withdrawn immediately. Privatizing policies in the energy market should be abandoned. Energy distribution should be done by the state, utility distribution companies should be nationalized. Especially in winter, electricity bill support should be provided to the citizen. The knife’s on the bone. We’ve had enough.
Source: ANKA
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