Students Demand Grants, Cheap Transport and Housing from Municipalities

University students want to make use of local services more cheaply. They criticise the fact that locals and local authorities see them only as a potential source of income, while they are struggling financially themselves. They also demand more social facilities, more dormitories and free of charge transportation.

Transport and grants

Ozan Ersan, a student at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) says that the greatest problem for students in Turkey's capital city is transport:

“For instance, there are only very few municipal buses from Hacettepe University. Sometimes there are 300 metre queues of students waiting for buses. The student ticket is 1.4 TL (around 65 cents), and the dolmuş (a minibus which seats six or seven passengers) only offers a more expensive alternative.

Another problem, so Ersan, is the municipal grants:

“A grant is 50 TL a month (around 23 Euros), which is not enough. In addition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was only giving grants to party supporters, and it won the court case. However, before the court decision could be published, the AKP stopped the grants, illegally so. While the CHP has not found a solution either, the AKP has used the situation for the elections. The students have suffered.”

Rents too high

Students also face problems with housing:

“There are not enough state dormitories, and the rent is between 450 and 500 TL (200-230 Euros). When the dorms are close to university, rents go up to 600-700 TL (270-320 Euros).

Same issues in Eskişehir

Eskişehir, in the west of Turkey, is another city famous for its large student population. Sanem Deniz Kuralp, a student at the Osmangazi University there, says that students face “endless” problems.

“It is extremely difficult for us to pay for transport, housing and other basic needs, especially in this economic crisis. Bus tickets for students cost 1.05 Lira, which is high. Rents start at 450 to 500 Lira. We live five people to a flat, two people in each room.”

Kuralp argues that candidates for the upcoming elections of 29 March should consult students or, even better, form a youth commission in order to take their concerns into consideration during decision-making processes.

Negative attitude of Erzurum locals

For Özlem Şişmanoğlu, a student at Atatürk University in Erzurum, eastern Turkey, the greatest problem students face is the negative attitude of locals. This also affects their access to housing, transport and socializing:

“The state dormitories are full, and there are no private dormitories. There are flats from the 'cemaat', religious groups. That is why we face problems when we want to rent flats independently. Never mind our male friends, our brothers cannot even enter the flats, and we cannot enter the flats of our male friends. If we come home after 9 pm, our neighbours start gossiping about us. As women, if we walk outside later at night, we are harassed.”

Asked where students socialized, Şişmanoğlu said, “Only in the cinema and theatre, and only during the day. Apart from that, there is nowhere where you could have a drink or two and chat. There is no library and few bookstores, and they do not sell the books we want.”

Erdem Çelik, a student at the same university, believes that the municipality should organise activities that bring locals and students together in order to achieve a change in attitude. (EZÖ/AG)