‘The government did not take care of shopkeepers as it said it would’

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"They really did not take care of the shopkeepers as they said they would. Shopkeepers were the losing side of the pandemic. Thousands of shopkeepers have been excluded from the grant support. The other support they give is a loan with an annual interest rate of 17.5 percent. Now we are trying to make a living by taking a loan from here and there."

Burcu Bacaksız is just one of the hundreds of thousands of shopkeepers who have been hurt by the coronavirus pandemic process. A cafe-restaurant manager... She is also the Chair of the Federation of Gastronomy, Food, and Beverage Operators of Turkey (TURİFED).

Bacaksız reacts against the debt package which was announced by President and ruling Justice and Developmenet Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the "package for breath" and unveiled by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance as the "loan for breath."

She is reactive because there are thousands of shopkeepers like her who cannot benefit from either the grant or the loan support.

Bacaksız explains the reason as follows:

"There are conditions for receiving a loan and a grant. Mine was a private company at first. Later, I turned my business into a limited company. I cannot get the loan they are giving because I turned it into a limited company.

"I cannot receive a grant because I have withdrawn 25,000 TRY Halkbank loan they have given as part of the Business Support Package.

"Even if I was not a limited company and had not benefited from the Business Support Package, I still could not benefit from their support because I am registered with the Chamber of Commerce, not with the Chamber of Merchants and Craftspeople."

'They could've given it without distinguishing'

Stating that the government only looks from its own perspective, Bacaksız says "Their goal is not giving. As a shopkeeper, I can clearly say this."

She explains that there are businesses that have been closed for 15 months and says that the grant of 3,000 Turkish Lira (TRY) and 5,000 TRY will not be a lifeline for the shopkeepers.

She reacts by saying, "Should I pay my rent or bills with that money, pay their salary to my employees, or buy materials for the shop?"

Bacaksız states, "What they are doing is completely deceptive. The state says that they are taking care of its shopkeepers, but there is no such thing." Afterwards, she continues by saying, "I would wish" the following:

"I can no longer expect a grant from the state to regulate our debts. Because we are far from being a social state anymore.

"But they could give loans at lower interest rates. It's the same as a normal debt they are giving out now. We have already been constantly in debt since the beginning of the pandemic. I wish they would look at all shopkeepers the same and give loans with lower interest rates, without distinguishing businesses, without separating them as the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Merchants and Craftspeople.

"My property owner gets their rent. If they wanted to protect the shopkeepers, I would wish they had issued a circular about it.

"I continue to pay for my electricity, water, and all other bills. Since I am located in a business center, I have to pay dues. Frankly, I would like a circular about these to be issued.

"I would like municipalities to protect their shopkeepers. They overlook and ignore us. At this point, we always live on loans taken from here and there. We have neither savings nor an area where we can use loans. They did not take care of the shopkeepers as they said they would.

'My shop is closed, malls are open'

"The losing side of the pandemic is shopkeepers. Property owners receive rent, workers get their salary either from me or from the state, the person from whom I buy goods gets their money, the state gets taxes, but we cannot get any money from anyone. Because we have been closed for months.

"They do not want this industry. The only sectors that have not been opened for 15 months are the food, beverage, and entertainment sectors. I've started to think that they want this industry to disappear.

"There was a police raid, even though we were only doing takeouts. We had customers waiting in line. The police came to see what all these people were doing. I'm doing takeouts to be picked up from the shop. 

"What more can I do, how can I earn money? We have problems even with that. We are the only scapegoats of the pandemic. However, if 50 people can enter my space at the same time, 5,000 people can enter a shopping mall. Is that fair?" (HA/DCE/SD)