Tenants march towards Ankara

16 members of the ‘Tenants Solidarity Platform’, created by hundreds of people aggrieved by the increase in housing rental prices in Antalya, began to march towards Ankara to present the file of 36 articles that they prepared to the political parties in the Turkish Grand National. Assembly (TBMM).

Migration due to the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine affected housing rentals in Antalya. With the increase in demand for housing, rental prices have reached exorbitant levels.

As a precaution against this situation, some neighborhoods of the city were closed to foreigners. However, landlords and tenants still clashed over high rents.

Some landlords who wanted to raise rent but couldn’t go above the set rate of 25 percent began resorting to different methods to evict tenants.

THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD

Hundreds of tenants felt aggrieved and had to move out due to the process of eviction undertakings signed during house rentals, house sales, and eviction cases.

The aggrieved tenants united on social media and created the ‘Tenant Solidarity Platform’. The number of members of the platform initiative, which started with 4 people, has reached 6 thousand.

The members of the platform, who meet regularly at Attalos Square in the Muratpaşa district, take measures to eliminate the grievances they experience and make their voices heard.

The members of the platform, who have not received a response to their press statements for a long time, decided to march from Antalya to the Turkish Grand National Assembly to make their voices heard.

16 members of the platform, who gathered today in the Kepez district and wore t-shirts with the words “Housing is a constitutional right, our right cannot be taken away from us”, will march in some provincial and district centers in accordance with the permit what did you recieve. Ankara and present the file of 36 articles that they prepared as solution proposals to the political parties in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

‘NEITHER THE OPPOSITION NOR THE GOVERNMENT WERE RECEIVING RECOVERY’

Cengiz Kul, spokesperson for the Tenants Solidarity Platform, said that no concrete measures have been taken in this regard, stating: “Despite the press statements we made, we could not get a response from either the opposition or the government. A researcher working on this topic in Austria came here to investigate the process. We exchange information. Since no concrete measures were taken; We will go to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to explain that there have been murders and people thrown into the streets over this issue. “We will visit the provinces and districts and go to Ankara,” he said.

Kul stated that they will also talk about the problems they experience and said: “We will go to make the voices of all tenants in Turkey heard. We have a proposal made up of 36 articles. These include not charging landlords taxes on rents of 4,000 lira or less, a gradual increase in taxes and eviction notices that must be received in the presence of a notary or not collected at all. This makes the tenants suffer a lot. “We will make our voice heard to prevent this,” he said.

‘WE WILL EXPLAIN THE PROBLEMS’

Seda Kul, one of the participants in the march, said: “We will call on the parliamentarians elected by the people to support the people. We will explain one by one the difficulties faced by retirees, minimum wage earners and students, and the difficulties experienced by low-income citizens due to the housing problem. “We emphasize that housing is a constitutional right and our state must provide it to us,” he said. (DHA)