The Turkish Cooperative Movement that consumes our lives

Beware!

Stay away.

Millions of temporary refugees fleeing the war to our south,

Hundreds of thousands of guest migrants fleeing the turmoil to our north,

Thousands of adolescents from our east whose origins are unclear,

And then,

February 6, the disaster of the century, 3 consecutive major earthquakes.

Experts and those in the know say that the world has not yet encountered such consecutive "Main Earthquakes."

They don't say anything else.

I am just repeating what they say.

Then,

The lowering of interest rates, but with rising inflation, the swelling of costs and the state of purchasing power.

Look at Central Bank Governor Hafize Hanım's rent joke.

The rent for the house I bought 2 years ago with a tenant in it has reached around 20 thousand liras.

That is almost 3 retirement pensions.

I didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

The price of the house I bought without paying out of pocket, only with a bank loan, has multiplied by 7-8 times, and its rent has increased 20 times.

The state did not ask for any tax on this added value.

Perhaps because there is no realization.

Because the tenant is stuck to the house, they won't leave, they are still paying their old rent.

Because I put the house I bought up for sale, and no one even asked about it, let alone bought it.

The economic order has been turned upside down.

House rents have become unaffordable.

We have started to encounter landlord-tenant murders, which have never been seen in history before.

In this volatile process, the clever ones who wanted to multiply their money were first hit by the crypto monster, and then knocked out by the stock market.

The situation of those who are risk-averse and do not like adventure, who have a small amount of money left, is not bright either.

Their money has turned into dust.

Even if this remaining money, which has turned into dust, is of no use, it is looking for a way.

The banks cutting off loans has also locked the entire system.

For young people who do not yet have the sensitivity of "burial money," there is no choice but to wait.

They have an 8-9 year waiting period ahead of them.

Let them eat, drink, and travel.

Let them not forget: "Save when you have money."

Do not stress yourselves for savings when you don't have any.

Knowing that these ages will not come back, let them enjoy themselves.

Those who did not take advantage of the low-interest chance in time, expecting housing prices to fall, are trying to become homeowners by coming together through the cooperative model.

The final obstacle awaiting the risk-averse who passed the crypto trap and the stock market stall without being slapped or damaged is cooperatives.

But it seems that they will get stuck in the final stretch, unable to overcome this obstacle, and will have to say a prayer for the soul of the burial money they have left.

And they will leave court files as an inheritance to their heirs.

Turkey met with cooperatives in the 70s and 80s.

Because there was not enough capital in the country, people tried to create added value by producing housing with the capital they created by coming together.

Our generation missed both its childhood and adolescence because of cooperative installments.

Because the cooperative we were members of was under the control of the Trabzon Municipality, it was both completed on time, finished cheaply, and built according to technical standards.

However, the majority of cooperatives lasted for years, were defrauded by their own members, and most went bankrupt.

Many of them could not even pass the "Foundation Level."

There are even those whose court cases are still ongoing despite 40 years passing.

Those who were lucky and were not defrauded became owners of a "lesser of two evils" rotten apartment.

It was already evident in the earthquake.

I could write dozens of statistics about cooperatives, but I won't.

Because there is almost no one among us who is not a "cooperative victim."

It was a long introduction, but I have given the "WARNING."

Everyone should protect their last remaining balance, their burial money.

Stay away from cooperatives.

Stay away from residences that are not one hundred percent finished and do not have an occupancy permit.

Do not be fooled by payment plans like "half in advance, the remaining half when construction is finished."

Do not see the contractors' heavily damaged luxury vehicles, flashy glass offices, and shiny clothes as collateral.

Never believe the lie of in-company lending.

Do not become an appetizer in the dreams of the "we'll handle it" riffraff and amateur contractors.

After all this "don't do it," then "what should they do"!!!

There is only one thing to do.

They should come together and direct their last remaining balances to projects that will be managed, tendered, and built under public guarantee, by the Public or the Municipality, and will not exceed 50-70 square meters.

100-150 square meter apartments are now a dream.

Even if they have the means,

Instead of one 150 square meter apartment, they should buy 2 apartments of 75 square meters each.

Chancellor Merkel says it, not me.

She says they should live in one and collect the rent from the other.

If this is not possible either, let them continue with term deposits.

For God's sake, stay away from individual cooperatives.

Even if their burial money melts away, at least they won't have a heart attack in courthouse corridors and will have the chance to leave at least a small inheritance to their children.