Impromptu protests against the high cost living spread to more Turkish cities on Friday night. Despite bitter cold, thousands of angry citizens congregated on streets to protest outrageously high electricity bills.
Similar demonstrations were held in Southeastern Province of Bingol, where small businesses led the procession. Shop owners demand the administration pulls back the three-digit hike in electricity prices.
Ensonhaber.com news site reports small-scale marches in Aegean cities of Izmir and Bodrum, as the number of e-commerce companies, where the couriers strikes reached 10 as of Friday.
Also staging demonstrations are some teachers claiming to be underpaid, as well as health care staff complaining about long work hours.
So far, the Erdogan administration did not try to break up the demonstrations, perhaps because the marchers come from all walks of life.
It is difficult to predict social events, driven by psychology and herd behavior. However, under the assumption Turkey’s inflation will not peak until summer months, the current wild-cat protests could gel into nation-wide events.
More and more people in Turkey are expressing their anger and protesting in the streets and on social media over the rising electricity and gas prices they have faced since the beginning of the year, Turkish media outlets reported.
Hundreds of people took to the streets in the popular tourism resort of Bodrum in western Turkey and the Black Sea province of Rize on Monday to stage demonstrations against increasing electricity prices. The protestors said there has been a two- to threefold increase in the electricity bills they received over the past month. They called on the government to revoke the recent price hikes and to resign.
Similar protests took place in other parts of the country over the weekend.
On social media, too, more and more people are expressing anger at the high energy bills and comparing the recent energy costs with those of past years.
The working conditions of couriers in Turkey – a large part of whom work under the gig economy – came into the spotlight recently as employees of several online platforms, including shopping giant Hepsiburada and Chinese Alibaba-backed Trendyol, have been protesting throughout this week.
The latest of the ongoing worker strikes in Turkey in the fast delivery sector has entered its third day on Thursday as gig couriers working for the online food and fast delivery application Yemeksepeti resumed their walkout over a low pay raise proposal with record inflation levels affecting the country’s employees.
Ali Rıza Küçükosmanoğlu, the chairperson of logistics workers trade union Nakliyat-Iş whose members arrived at the scene to support the protest, told reporters that couriers throughout Turkey have been joining the strike to support their fellow laborers. “Today, there are protests and press releases in Ankara, Eskişehir and Izmir. There are also protests in Antalya.
Workers of Alpine Çorap, a socks manufacturer that produces products for several international firms such as Adidas, Decathlon, H&M and Carrefour, downed the tools last week after being offered a low increase.
The employers met with the representatives of the workers after more than 300 workers stopped working. They agreed on a 2,500 lira increase and protesting workers won’t be fired.
Workers of Farplas, a Kocaeli-based company producing plastic automotive parts, also started protests a couple of weeks ago.
After the protests, the company fired nearly 150 out of its 2,500 workers. Also, police raided the factory to detain 200 protesting workers last week.
Turkish media sources
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