The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party said late Wednesday that he would not stop paying his electricity bill until President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew the recent price hikes, amid voices of dissatisfaction with the high country to multiply.
Inflation in Turkey reached almost 50% in January after the collapse of the Turkish currency last year, which led Erdogan to adopt an unorthodox policy of low interest rates, which led to a sharp rise in the cost of living for already troubled Turks.
The Erdogan government raised the minimum wage by 50%, but at the same time increased prices for fuel, electricity and tolls.
In a video posted on his Twitter account, Kilicdaroglu also called for a reduction in value added tax on his electricity bills from the current 18% to 1%. “From today, I will not pay the electricity bills until Erdogan withdraws “The price increases he signed on December 31,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The price of electricity increased in early January by up to 125% for industrial electricity and about 50% for households.
Kilicdaroglu’s announcement came after shopkeepers, city councils and religious communities denounced rising energy prices this week.
Some restaurant owners posted electricity bills on their shop windows, according to images posted on social media, while the Alevi religious minority decided not to pay their electricity bills for their places of worship.
The devaluation of the Turkish pound and rising prices have hit Erdogan’s popularity, with elections set to take place by June 2023.
Government spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said this week that new measures to tackle rising energy prices would be announced “very soon”.
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