Buğra Gökçe: Number of foreign İSKİ subscribers has increased nearly 10-fold in 8 years

If the number of foreigners in Istanbul were a city on its own, it would be the 9th largest city in Europe. While 2.1 million people live in the city center of Paris, the population of Vienna is 1.9 million, and Barcelona is only 1.6 million.

The number of foreign national İSKİ subscribers has increased nearly 10-fold in 8 years.

While there were 145 thousand foreign national subscribers in 2019, this number has risen to 255 thousand 985 this year.

While the average household size in Istanbul is at the 3.3 level, the household size among foreign subscribers can even exceed the 8-10 level because many households live together.

The total foreign population, including temporary refugees, individuals who have acquired citizenship through property sales, those with temporary work or residence permits, and illegal immigrants, has reached 16 percent of our citizen population.

The earthquake and disaster risk of the buildings where foreigners living in between 350 and 500 thousand residences reside is also uncertain. Especially since illegal immigrants reside in an unregistered manner, it is not possible to identify and inspect the structures they occupy, and subsequently to renovate them.

It is not possible for any city in the world to produce the social amenities, educational institutions, parks, and recreational areas required by a population increase of 2.5 million in a period of 8 years, or to develop its public transport network in accordance with this massive population growth. The increasing foreign population, along with irregular and uncontrolled migration, is further eroding the limits of Istanbul, which has already reached its ecological limits.

Both due to the housing crisis we are experiencing and for the future of our cities, the practice of selling housing to foreigners should be stopped, and there must be an effective fight against illegal and irregular migration.

News Source: 12punto