* Photo: İYİ Party
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İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener talked about students' housing problems in her party's weekly Parliamentary group meeting today (January 19).
Referring to the Article 2 of the Constitution, Meral Akşener recalled that "the State of the Republic of Turkey is a social state of law", underlining that this principle lays a series of responsibilities on the state to ensure the welfare and happiness of its citizens.
"However, under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), this principle has unfortunately been eroded and decayed as well, which manifests itself in the current housing problems of university citizens," said Akşener and shared the following information:
"According to the September 2021 data of the Ministry of National Education, 773 dormitories affiliated with the Credit and Dormitories Institution (KYK) offer housing opportunities to our nearly 700 thousand students. There has been no significant increase in the number of dorms since 2016; on the contrary, 20 dorms were closed only in 2021."
Accusing the government of "subcontracting" in this field as well, İYİ Party's Akşener said, "Even the number of private dormitories manifests how the government forces our students to stay in the dorms of some associations and foundations. Unable to find a place to stay, students have to find a place in private dorms, the number of which has doubled in 15 years."
Referring to the 2021 data, Meral Akşener raised concerns that the number of private dorms in Turkey is 4,614, which is 6-times higher than that of public dorms. According to Akşener, these dorms can offer housing to 440 thousand students, so only half of the public dorms.
'24,000 vacancies for 1.2 million students'
İYİ Party's Akşener noted that 35 percent of all dormitories in Turkey belong to foundations and associations, "which shows that especially low-income students are made dependent on these dorms that are not inspected and are far from offering several services properly."
According to Akşener, while there are nearly 1.2 million students in İstanbul, the state offers only 21 public dormitories, which can accommodate only 24 thousand students. Akşener has explained that this number is only 2 percent of all students living in İstanbul.
In addition to the lack of dormitories, Akşener also addressed the physical conditions of the public dorms by referring to the reports of the Court of Accounts, which have found that several buildings rented as dorms are not in compliance with the related regulations on earthquakes.
Asking, "Why are there public dormitories?", Akşener answered her question briefly as follows: "For equality of opportunity. So that the ones who have money and the ones who do not can study in equal conditions. But especially in the last three years, you have made people go though such harsh poverty that families do not have money to give to private dorms anymore."
Speaking further about the issue, Akşener briefly said:
"Rents kept increasing. Students do not have the money to live in rented houses. Are there any students who cannot go to university because they cannot find a dorm to stay in? Yes, there are such students.
"Are there students who stay on the street because they cannot find a house? Yes, it happened, too. There are young people who share the rent of a house with two rooms as eight people. Yes, it is also the case.
"Are there any people who stay in 10-person wards of public dorms? Yes, there are. When this is the case, then, you cannot show off as if you solved this problem." (AS/SD)
