İstanbul’s Municipal Council approves opening of new bread buffets

* Photo: Yandex

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İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Municipal Council has approved the proposal foreseeing the establishment of 142 bread buffets in the city.

A similar proposal was previously rejected by the members of the council from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and allying Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who have the majority in the council.

Amid rising queues for cheaper bread in the face of growing poverty and unemployment in the metropolitan city, İstanbul Halk Ekmek (İHE), a municipal company selling cheaper bread and bakery products, have set up mobile cheap bread buffets to meet the rising demand.

The proposal to set up 142 new regulat bread buffets across İstanbul, the most populous city of the country, has been voted again at the İMM's Municipal Council. This time, the council members from the AKP and MHP have approved the proposal, but on certain conditions.

During the session chaired by 1st Municipal Deputy Speaker Zeynel Abidin Okul, main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) request for allocating sites for 142 news bread buffets was discussed.

While the request of the main opposition party was being debated, AKP's Muhammet Kaynar, the Chair of Law Commission, said that they would approve setting up the buffets on the condition that they were managed by the relatives of martyrs to the second degree, the veterans and the people with a disability of over 40 percent. Kaynar also said that there should be a ban on transfer of operational rights.

As for the other demands of the AKP, Kaynar requested that the buffets not sell products other than the ones produced by the municipality's companies and that all groceries that have such a demand to make bread more accessible for İstanbulites be authorized to sell İHE products. 

In response to these demands, CHP Group Spokesperson said that when they made such a request, groceries were sold bread by the municipality.

After the talks, the council had a vote and unanimously approved the opening of 142 new bread buffets across the city. The right to operate the buffets have been granted to only the relatives of martyrs to the third degree, veterans, the citizens who had a report documenting their disabilities by 40 percent or higher and the ones who have lost their spouses or parents.

What happened?

The request for setting up bread buffets in İstanbul was rejected by the votes of the AKP and MHP on March 14, 2020.

AKP Group Deputy Chair Tevfik Gürsu, on January 11, 2021, denied that they had rejected the proposal, challenging the ones who accused them to prove the contrary. In response to this, CHP MP Tuncay Özkan shared the video footage of the related municipal council session.

Amid these debates, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality has introduced mobile bread buffets to meet the demand for cheaper bread in the city.

As photos of long bread queues from various parts of the city had been recently circulating on social media, Okan Gedik, the general director of the İHE, said that they moved to meet the increasing demand for bread.

To ease the load on the Halk Ekmek points, 40 mobile buffets started service in 26 districts of İstanbul, he said.

Gedik noted that the mobile buffets were introduced after the Municipal Council, where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) - Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) bloc has the majority, prevented the opposition-led municipality to open 142 new regular buffets. (HA/SD)