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Following the interest rate cut of the Central Bank by 100 base points and the cabinet meeting of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the other day, the Turkish Lira (TRY) has suffered a depreciation of 15 percent at one night.
Only in November 2021, the total depreciation of the TRY has hit 32 percent, which has also made it the currency which has seen the highest depreciation in the world. Several people have taken to the streets in this context and protested the economic crisis and high cost of living.
Amid pressing demands of the opposition for a snap election, the people have also called on the AKP government to resign.
İstanbul
People held protest marches and demonstrations in several districts of İstanbul yesterday evening (November 23). The police blockaded the entrance points to Taksim Square in case of a possible protest.
Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) members marched from Karaköy to the front of the Central Bank office in İstanbul. Making a press statement there, the TİP members called on the government to resign.
The members of the Socialist Refoundation Party (SYKP) also carried a banner that read "This cannot go on like this; Tayyip, resign". With torches in their hands, they walked by chanting slogans. The residents of the neighborhood were seen to support them with pans and pots.
The Labor Party (EMEP) Kadıköy District Organization also said on Twitter, "We are on the streets in Kadıköy against price increases, poverty, the capital's rule and one-man government. We call on our people to raise this call, to raise their voices and to take to the streets against the ones who impose this poverty on us. Government, resign."
Upon the call of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), people also protested in İstanbul's Kurtuluş. Police intervened against this protest.
People in İstanbul's Kocamustafapaşa also protested the high cost of living, price increases and higher bills, calling on the government to resign.
The members of the People's Houses staged a protest in İstanbul's Esenyurt district against the AKP government. The People's Houses called on the government to resign while the citizens took to their windows and expressed support for the protests with applause.
Ankara
In the capital city of Ankara, there were also protests in different districts and towns. In Esat neighborhood in Çankaya, a group of people marched by chanting the slogan, "AKP, resign". The people who live in or pass the area in their vehicles expressed their support.
Journalist Burcu Yıldırım posted images from the scene and said that the police teams were trying to prevent the protesters.
Several students of the Middle East Technical University (METU) met in the dormitory area and started marching. They chanted the slogans, "Government, resign", "The burden of the crisis to the bosses", "Turn on the lights, let the light bulb blow up." Some students joined the protests from their dormitories with pans and pots, as was the case in several other cities.
As the number of those who joined the protest increased, the riot police officers came to the A4 gate of the campus and prevented the students from heading for 100. Yıl neighborhood, spraying tear gas.
In Ankara's Batıkent, several citizens marched with pans and pots in their hands. They chanted the slogans, "Government, resign" and "Price increase, torment, torture; here is the AKP". Several people who saw the protest from their houses went out and joined the protest.
While several other people protested in İzmir, Kocaeli, Eskişehir and Samsun provinces, the police took seven people into custody in Kocaeli and six people in Eskişehir. Among the detained were also Evrensel newspaper Kocaeli representative Gözde Meydan and EMEP Körfez District Chair Adem Korkmaz. While the ones taken into custody were charged with "provoking the public to hatred and hostility", all of the detained have been released following their medical checks. (KÖ/SD)
