İstanbul prevents waste collectors as companies enter business

_{"Don't fight the poor, fight poverty" (Photos: Evrim Kepenek/bianet)}

Click to read the article in Turkish

"I'm Abdul Aziz Işık of Siverek. We were poor, we couldn't study. We looked after our families, siblings. I've been doing this since I was little.

"Twice a week, I would break down the garbage in Üsküdar and then in Ümraniye. I can't do this anymore. The municipal police walk together with us and they have taken away our carts. They take away from us and give to the rich."

We are in Ümraniye, İstanbul, in the area where the depots of waste workers are located.

Workers bring the waste they collected from across İstanbul and they are sold here.

Nowadays, the police frequently raid this area. So much so that they seized "garbage worth billions," according to a worker's account.

CLICK - Police detain 200 waste workers during raid on depots

The reason for the police raids, in sum, is that "The Governor's Office of İstanbul does not want workers to collect garbage. It states that the garbage will be collected by companies and will be sent to segregation areas. For this reason, waste workers are prevented from collecting garbage."

The waste workers are angry at the Governor's Office, as well as the municipalities, which they describe as the other side of the issue, because they remain silent.

"This is our living space"

Workers staged a protest on Tuesday (October 5). Speaking on behalf of the Waste Workers Association, Ali Mendillioğlu said the association was recently founded, and the workers chose him as chair "for now."

When asked about why the protest was staged here, he said, "Because our depots here were burned. This is our living space and our further protests will also be in our living spaces."

Another worker said, "We don't steal. We are after our business, our bread. We don't get why they are doing this to us."

"Big money in the garbage"

Another worker, Ekrem Akdemir, said, "I've been in this business for 20 years. I have four children, one of them is a baby. This is how I look after my children. Where should we go?

"I don't [get the waste] for free in the neighborhood. I buy them from waste collectors. I earn 2,000 lira a month. I start working at 7 in the morning and go home at around 11 at night. I have zero social life.

"Why are they doing this to us after years? There is a big unearned income in the business. They want to take away the waste business from us and give it to companies."

"Şimdi yıllar sonra bize neden bunu yapıyorlar. Bu işte büyük bir rant dönüyor. Bizden çöp işini alıp şirketlere vermek istiyorlar."

"He should be the governor of the poor"

"We wanted to meet the governor about this. He didn't want to meet us. The governor should make a decision. Will he be our governor or the governor of the companies? The governor should be the governor fo the poor of this country.

"Look at the statements f the governor's office. It always thanks the companies. Those politically responsible for this, who hide behind the governor, will see the truth as well. The poor of this country will show solidarity with one another and they will see who is supporting whom."

"They want companies to make money"

"19,500 tons of waste means a terrible amount of money. They separated the jobs of sorting and collecting. There are companies that want to the collection work but they asked for guarantees. This is where our friends who collect waste and garbage became a problem for them.

"Our friends collect the waste. Our friends do not earn unfair income. However, the authorities want the two companies to make an unearned income. Those who hinder our friends should find a solution to this problem as well.

"We are founding our association. To demonstrate our attitude, there were two managers from Afghanistan and Syria. We also adopt these friends of ours. Two migrant friends of ours will be in the administration against the increasing xenophobia in Turkey.

"No decision has been made on further protests. Three of our friends have been arrested. Their burden is on us.

"Not only the governor's office is responsible but also the municipalities are silent on this issue. But they also need to take a stance on this matter. We are outraged by their silence." (EMK/VK)