Opposition parties try to reach out to shopkeepers amid economic troubles

İYİ Party Chair Akşener visiting a pastry shop in Ankara. (Photo: AA/File)

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Opposition leaders in Turkey have recently intensified their efforts to reach out to shopkeepers, and the poor in general, who struggle with economic problems in the midst of the pandemic.

They have been visiting small shops more frequently to listen to shopkeepers' problems, as well as organizing meetings with workers.

The pandemic has affected more than 1.8 million shopkeepers in the country, most of which are currently ordered to stay closed on weekends and after 9 p.m. on weekdays as part of the coronavirus measures.

The government will provide additional income loss and rent assistance to more than 1.3 million shopkeepers, Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan announced today (January 21).

Shopkeepers will be paid 1,000 lira (~135 USD) for income loss and 500 to 750 lira for rents for three months in accordance with a presidential decree issued on December 23, she said.

Shopkeepers and opposition parties have not been satisfied with the support provided by the government so far.

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Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) visited small shops today in the central Anatolian province of Kırşehir.

"Today, our shopkeepers have the biggest problems in Turkey. Their shops are closed, they can't make a living," he told reporters, referring to the measures mandating most shops to stay closed on weeknights and weekends.

The government hasn't provided adequate support for small shops, he added.

Yesterday, Kılıçdaroğlu addressed doorkeepers at a meeting organized by his party in İstanbul.

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Good (İYİ) Party Chair Meral Akşener, an ally of the CHP, who frequently visits small shops, was in the Kızılcahamam district of Ankara today.

Describing the situation of small shops as a "disaster," Akşener told reporters, "The shopkeepers are fed up with politicians' fights. They want peace, they want their problems to be handled ... We will continue to understand citizens' real problems and share them. I see that this is very useful. It shows how worthless the political fight over values ​​is."

Shopkeepers in Sakarya hold a symbolic funeral with a grave stone reading "Shopkeepers died."

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has started a countrywide campaign named, "Meetings for Jobs and Food" from the mostly Kurdish-populated southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Garo Paylan, the party's deputy co-chair responsible for labor affairs, said in a press conference that "The economy of the palace and its partisans is very good but the people's economy is in dire straits.

"Playing with numbers, the government expects us to believe that the economy is good and the unemployment rate is 12 percent. However, millions of citizens of the country are unemployed and most of them are on the starvation line."

The HDP's program includes visits to small shops and meetings with workers. (VK)