‘Enough is enough’: Citizens protest price rises

* Photos: Gönül İlhan

Click to read the article in Turkish

The members of the Ayvalık Democracy Platform in Turkey's western province of Balıkesir protested the price rises, especially in electricity and natural gas bills, introduced since the beginning of July.

Meeting at the Cumhuriyet Square, the platform carried banners of "We want wages to lead a humane life", "Exempt the minimum wage from taxes" and "Enough is enough, we cannot make ends meet."

'TurkStat's inflation doesn't overlap with people's'

The statement read out on behalf of the Ayvalık Democracy Platform said, "We have come together to say, 'Withdraw the price rises and increase the wages for a humane life.' In the face of those who have lost their touch with the people's realities, we would like to remind them of the real economy and living conditions of the people one more time from this square."

The platform underlined that the inflation rates announced by the state agency Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and the inflation sensed by people at the bazaar do not overlap. They raised concerns that the recent price rises in electricity and natural gas bills are a harbinger of price rises to be introduced to the basic consumption goods as a result of a domino effect.

Demands

"We would like to say it from here one more time: Life has become unbearable with these price rises," said the Ayvalık Democracy Platform, listing a series of demands within this context:

• The price increases introduced to the basic consumption goods must be withdrawn and no new price rises must be made.

• The wages and salaries of workers, laborers and pensioners getting meager and meager in the face of inflation must be improved. They must be increased with additional wage rises.

• The minimum wage must be increased once in six months, rather than once a year, and it must be exempted from taxes. (Gİ/KÖ/SD)