Mr Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Turkey’s main opposition leader CHP has urged the nation not to pay their electricity bills until the Erdogan government rescinds tariff hikes which range from 25% to 125% depending on monthly consumption. Speaking in a YouTube broadcast from his home, Kilicdaroglu reminded his audience that he had repeatedly urged the administration to establish a budgetary fund to be spent on the poor during winter months.
CHP also began organizing the disparate demonstrations to protest outrageous utility bills with its Istanbul chapter denouncing them in 39 boroughs of the city yesterday. Ankara chapter was also on the streets, protesting the high cost of living.
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Thursday morning, social media began lighting up with messages of support for Kilicdaroglu’s call to boycott electricity bills.
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“Politics is for serving the citizens and solving the problems of citizens. Unfortunately, the palace [of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan] forgot both the citizens and their problems. Citizens are imprisoned by poverty,” Canan Kaftancioglu, chair of the CHP’s Istanbul branch, said on Wednesday.
Kaftancioglu called on the government to scrap the price hikes. “The government continuously increases prices of almost everything, including electricity, gas, petroleum, taxes and fees. The high cost of living is making citizens poorer,” he added.
“We are miserable,” one citizen said at the CHP’s protest, complaining about unaffordable utility bills.
Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Wednesday after the protests that the government is aware of public concern. “We are evaluating all the demands. We have not had a solution until now, but we are working on it and will announce when we are done,” Donmez said.
In the last few days, people have taken to the streets with unorganized small protests all over the country and on social media, complaining about high utility bills and the high cost of living after their first utility bills of 2022 started to arrive, with more than 100-per-cent increases.
Celebrities, singers and people from all segments of society have joined the outcry. “A person who does not complain about the high cost of living is either a madman or a thief,” Cem Yilmaz, Turkey’s most famous comedian, wrote on Twitter on February 6.
Media reports show that some business owners have put plaques in their windows, showing their dramatically increased utility bills.
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