Farmers in southeast Turkey 'fed up with illegal power cuts'

Photo: İLKHA

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"Power cuts occur in my workplace two or three times a day. DEDAŞ aggrieves not only the citizens who don't pay their bills but everyone. Farmers pay whatever they owe. They don't want their corn, cotton in the field to dry. But DEDAŞ says, 'I don't deliver electricity without collecting electricity money from all those in debt'."

This is how Fethi Tapaç (43), one of the thousands of aggrieved people, tells what happens. Citizens in the southeast, including farmers and shopkeepers, have been complaining about the Dicle Electricity Distribution Inc.'s (DEDAŞ) irregular power cuts recently. The company meets the energy needs of Urfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Batman and Siirt provinces in the Kurdish-majority region.

"It cuts the electricity of those who are not in debt. For example, five people in a transformer zone paid their debts but two people did not. Despite that, it [completely] cuts the power and aggrieves those who paid their debts."

"Now animals are dying, crops are drying. Because when there is no electricity, there is also no water here. There are a lot of complaints, but all remain unanswered," says Tapaç, who runs a cafe in Urfa.

"To whomever you ask, they will say the same thing, they will show you the bill about the payment. But their electricity is already cut. Because their neighbor has not paid their debt.

"For example, let me tell you the incident I encountered during the period of the pandemic. The state says 'Don't go out, there is a curfew.' DEDAŞ came home and cut the ower because I couldn't pay the 36 lira electricity bill. I called the call center, it said, 'Pay your debt.'

"Then it made it into the news in a local newspaper. The Governor intervened and my electricity came back on."

"Farmers have become workers in other people's fields"

Operating in the region since 2005, DEDAŞ frequently becomes a topic of conversation due to power cuts and sequestrations. More recently, it has been said that it seizes the support money that farmers receive from the government.

The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB/UCTEA) yesterday (July 9) called on DEDAŞ to "end unfair and unlawful practices," which have been in place since May 14.

Şanlıurfa Agricultural Engineers' Chamber Chair Abdullah Melik also says that DEDAŞ cuts the power of those who don't have any debt.

"Even if farmers here sell all their goods and assets, they can't pay their debts to DEDAŞ," Melik notes.

"Today, there are agricultural workers who go to other provinces from Urfa. Most of those agricultural workers have their own fields here. They can't use their lands because they have been made indebted to DEDAŞ. With this being the case, they either work for others or die on the roads.

"Electricity costs are very high in Urfa. Farmers are not able to pay the electricity fee anymore. Even if they sell their product and their land, they can't pay the electricity fee. Therefore, DEDAŞ blocks their support money, seizes their land and cuts their electricity.

"When the electricity is cut, farmers cannot water their crops; their crops dry out in the field."

Because of this, farmers in Mardin gave up cultivating nearly 500,000 acres of land, Melik says, adding that DEDAŞ seizes farmers' support money despite a statement by the government that it can't be seized.

DEDAŞ's irregularities

What happens in nothing new, according to Eyyüp Sabri Ahmer, the Consumers' Rights Committee Chair of Şanlıurfa Bar Association.

He also says that the company seizes farmers' support money and causes them to leave their fields empty.

"Most of the farmers have been made indebted. Under normal circumstances, when the support money was deposited to Ziraat Bank, the money of the indebted person would be blocked. However, with a statutory decree, the Dicle Electricity Distribution Inc. started to put the money into its own accounts.

"This case is not limited to this. Most of the lands in Urfa are jointly owned. When one of the customers had electricity debt, DEDAŞ seizes the money of other farmers who had no electricity debt as well. This situation constitutes a serious violation of the law.

"Most of the electricity fines are illegal anyway. Normally, the signature of the witness must be found in the records of illegal electricity detections. However, there is no signature of a witness in any fine imposed by DEDAŞ.

"Also, most of the fines imposed on our farmers are 'false coordinates,' which means that DEDAŞ issues fines even without knowing the place of the transformer and without going to the village.

"When we look at the penal courts of first instance in Urfa and its districts, 80 percent of the cases are filed against DEDAŞ. And rulings are given against DEDAŞ in these cases and unfairness of DEDAŞ is proven by courts. However, DEDAŞ continues to go its own way." (HA/VK)