Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s household electricity supply was disconnected after he refused to pay his bills as a protest of exorbitant price hikes.
The CHP leader had said in February that he would not pay his bills unless the energy price hikes to be revoked, as he criticized ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s economy policy.
“My wife has just called me to say that our electricity supply was disconnected. We are going through a rough times as our people are well aware. The energy hikes exceeded 400 percent in 3 years. Households pay the price. I called them to revoke the hikes, but they did not. Energy is a basic human right,” CHP leader said in a video he posted on his official Twitter account on April 21, adding that in 2021, 3449 subscribers’ electricity was cut off.
His protest had been followed by public figures as famous theatre in İstanbul, Moda Theatre also announced that they will not pay their bills. The theatre has been performing without an electricity for two weeks as they announced that they are ending their protest as of April 21.
Country has been battling with high inflation following a currency crisis since late 2021, where Turkish Lira has lost 40 percent of its value against foreign currencies in a course of six months.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been defending to keep interest rates low to boost export-led economic growth while inflation hit 61 percent annually in March.
Price hikes in energy supplies has caused a public outcry at the beginning of the year as electricity prices were increased 127 percent in a gradual scheme.
The seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index, calculated from the results of the consumer tendency survey conducted in cooperation with the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, decreased by 7.3 percent in April compared to the previous month. The index, which was 72.5 in March, became 67.3 in April.
