Small restaurant, bar owners struggle with new restrictions: 'We are in a deadlock'

Click to read the article in Turkish

As coronavirus infections increased to an unprecedented level in Turkey, the government has imposed new restrictions as of November 20.

According to the measures, cafes and restaurants work between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. and are restricted to takeaway and delivery services, which means that many businesses have had income losses and many employees are not at work anymore.

Although layoffs are banned during the pandemic, employees can be put on unpaid leave, in which case they receive benefits that amount to about half of the minimum salary.

Such restrictions were also implemented between mid-March and June.

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Business owners Ahmet Saymadi and Ahmet Bawer Aydemir and employee Göksu Uçar have spoken to bianet about how they were affected by the new measures.

"We don't receive any support from the state"

"We haven't been able to work since the start of the pandemic," says Aydemir, who runs a bar in İstanbul. "I don't know how we will continue."

"We sometimes opened the ground floor but couldn't work with full potential. We can't get any support, including for rents.

"Only our employee friends get 1,500 lira of benefits in this period. And that was canceled after we opened the saloon. After I wasn't able to benefit from credits, I took out individual loans.

"I borrowed a lot in these eight months. Even if everything returns to normal, I think I will work without profit for two years to balance these debts.

"The heaviest burden on us is the rent. We neither had a reduction nor any support from the state. Taxes, bills are the same. They could reduce the taxes on electricity bills in order not to make shop owners suffer. They dismantled and took away the electrometers of shop owners because they couldn't pay their bills.

"We paid the salaries of our employees in the period when we were open, now we can't pay. We will apply for the short-time work allowance.

"Everyone is trying to do something extra. One of our employees makes vegan cheese and sells it.

"So, we are in a deadlock. You can't leave because you have debt. If you stay, you don't know what expects you. We are puzzled like everyone else."

"We can't earn a livelihood"

Göksu Uyar, who works at a breakfast cafe in İstanbul's Kadıköy district, says small businesses were able to pay salaries in the first shut down but they have difficulties now.

"In short, we can't actually earn a livelihood now," he says.

"Our friends have people to take care of. It is said that two million people lost their jobs overnight. This number varies, this sector has a lot of unregistered employees.

"For example, we have colleagues who do day labor. Their problems are great. We are insured but they don't have any security. When there is a lockdown, they have to be really locked. They already get by with day labor, going out and socializing have a cost for them.

"We have seen that there are many people who are not able to benefit from short-time work allowance in this sector. We have established something called the 'Cafe-Bar Workers' Solidarity.' We spoke with employees from 40-45 places. Most of them were unregistered. They don't have any security. Low payments, mobbing, flexible work hours...

"Employees shouldn't pay rent and bills. Cash support should be offered to these people. These are our urgent demands right now. Some of us don't have health coverage, this is the worst thing. It's not possible for them to go to a private hospital when they encounter the virus. You can't run from the outbreak, you can't pay that fee if you don't run."

"Tradespeople are exhausted"

Ahmet Saymadi, who runs a tavern, says, "The government was late to take measures in this period. When it started restrictions, it acted incompletely in eliminating the grievances of the people who suffered from that."

"Small shop owners in the food sector are trying to stand against big chains. All of these businesses are actually places where three to five people work.

"When supermarkets were opened, grocers, butchers in neighborhoods had to start working at those supermarkets as workers.

"Today, our friends who close their shops start working as workers in big businesses. We really experience the gravity of this. All small businesses are in a difficult situation.

"We are a one-year business. For now, we have no debt, we have not taken a loan so far. We paid the salaries of all our friends in November and locked the door. We will not be able to support our friends in the coming months. This is because we are a new business.

"For example, none of the places with a bar license could open. They have been closed since March 15th, they couldn't be opened in June as well. We have friends who took out loans and are not given any more loans." (DŞ/VK)