'Ankara Municipality charges higher fees from foreigners for water subscription'

Municipal officials in the capital city ask foreign citizens to pay for time higher "deposit fees" for first subscriptions, but there are no written instructions for such a practice, said a union head.

İstanbul

'Ankara Municipality charges higher fees from foreigners for water subscription'

Photo: ASKİ

Click to read the article in Turkish

The opposition-led Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) charges four times higher fees from foreigners than locals for new water subscriptions, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.

While the "deposit fee" for water meters required from subscribers is 400 lira (~22 US dollars), the Ankara Water and Sewerage Administration (İSKİ) asks foreign subscribers to pay 1,600 lira, according to the report.

A citizen of Iran who did not want to be named told the agency, "At the ASKİ they told me to pay four times more than Turkish citizens. At first, they asked for 1,600 lira, then they said 1,545 lira would be okay."

"After making the payment, I took my papers from the woman. She hit the stapler in the middle of the papers. The papers could not be read, the stapler was right in the middle.

"I removed the stapler and looked at the papers before I took it to the cashier. The officer there told me that it is forbidden to remove the stapler. I said I have to read the papers I signed. They didn't give me any contract, they just gave a receipt that they collected the money.

"When I asked them why they were charging more money from us, they said, 'You are foreigners, this is why we get more money from you'."

"It is unlawful"

Yılmaz Yardımcı, the secretary-general of the Tüm Bel-Sen municipal workers' union, told MA that it has become a routine practice to charge more deposit fees from foreigners.

Citing his conversations with the municipal authorities, Yardımcı said, "The ASKİ's decision is unlawful. It has no legal grounds at all. The ASKİ charges four times higher deposit fees for water meters."

The authorities told him that the practice is a "decision made by the ASKİ," but did not provide a document regarding that decision, added Yılmaz.

Discrimination by municipalities

In November, the Bolu Municipality, which is also run by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), increased tap water prices 10 fold for foreign nationals. https://bianet.org/english/local-goverment/253730-discriminatory-arrangements-pass-the-bolu-municipal-council

The Bolu Administrative Court in January ordered the stay of execution of the municipality's decision. (AEK/VK)