Hundreds of seasonal farm workers living in tents in Adana’s Karataş district have been fined for alleged illegal electricity use, according to a report by daily Evrensel. The penalties were issued even in the names of children, some as young as five years old.
In Tabaklar neighborhood, workers reported receiving bills of thousands of lira. One family said a 5-year-old child was fined 20,500 Turkish liras, while a 9-year-old was issued a debt of 9,000 liras (1 US dollar = 41.05 Turkish liras).
Mahmut Güp, one of the workers, described the incident: “They came, cut off our electricity, collected our IDs. We gave them because they said they were from the gendarmerie. Later we learned they issued fines."
"Since I have a subscription, they couldn’t write it in my name, so they wrote it in my little child’s name," he added. "How can a 5-year-old be fined 20,500 liras?”
Lawyer Sefa Ün, representing the workers, criticized the penalties, saying, “A child who does not have legal capacity cannot be subject to debt enforcement or a lawsuit. Enforcement offices should have addressed this on their own initiative. But they started enforcement proceedings against a child."
Adana is one of the provinces receiving the highest seasonal migration of farm workers due to its geography and the fact that agricultural activities continue for about 10 months a year. Workers and rights groups have long raised concerns over poor housing and infrastructure conditions.
Despite the Labor Ministry’s program “Improving the Working and Social Life of Seasonal Migrant Agricultural Workers” (METİP), launched in 2010 with promises of “clean water, electricity, toilets, bathrooms and safe areas,” many workers still live in inadequate conditions.
The Tabaklar tent area in Karataş, where the recent fines were issued, is part of the METİP program. Yet residents say they are still left to meet their basic needs on their own. Workers complain that no waste collection is carried out, leaving hundreds of children exposed to health risks. (VK)
