Motion regarding tenants' problems rejected by AKP-MHP

While deliberations on the 86-article omnibus bill containing economic regulations continued in the TBMM General Assembly, which convened under the chairmanship of Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Gülizar Biçer Karaca, group deputy chairmen made statements following the off-agenda speeches.

"TURKEY'S MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM IS THE COST OF LIVING"

İYİ Party Group Deputy Chairman Erhan Usta noted that one of Turkey's most important problems is the cost of living, stating, "Prices rising every day, increasing inflation, the decline in purchasing power, and the poverty that comes with it continue to multiply. In a country where the minimum wage is 11 thousand 400 liras, the difficulty of making a living in a mega-city where 16 million of our citizens live stands before the government as the number one agenda item. Of course, we are experiencing the same difficulty not only in Istanbul but throughout all of Turkey. Due to exorbitant rent prices, our citizens are also struggling with the most basic human right, which is housing," he said.

MHP Group Deputy Chairman Erkan Akçay drew attention to the successes Turkey has achieved in the defense industry, saying, "With technology moves, the localization rate in the defense industry has reached 80 percent. All high-tech products, from aircraft to helicopters and unmanned aerial, land, and sea vehicles, from our multi-purpose amphibious ship TCG Anadolu to submarines, from frigates to corvettes, from smart ammunition to missiles, and from air defense systems to electronic warfare systems, are now produced and exported in our country," he said.

"PISA SCORES ANNOUNCED"

Speaking on behalf of the CHP Group, Group Deputy Chairman Gökhan Günaydın also reminded that the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores were announced as of yesterday, criticizing, "This is an international study that measures the quality of education in 81 countries and evaluates how successful our children are in reading, mathematics, and science. According to this, in the study conducted among 15-year-old children in 81 countries and regions, our children are in 36th place in reading, 39th in mathematics, and 34th in science. They are behind the OECD countries, and it is not possible for Turkey to develop and for an education system based on science and R&D to yield results with such an education quality."

AKP Group Deputy Chairman Abdulhamit Gül emphasized that the brutality Israel inflicts on Palestine continues to grow every day, commenting, "As our President expressed yesterday, no matter how much the Israeli administration, which hides under the skirts of the West, escalates its oppression, the price it will pay will be just as heavy. In this context, for this problem to be solved and for the Middle East and humanity to reach peace, this bloodshed and this occupation will only end with the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital."

Gül also reminded that the Chairman of the TBMM Justice Commission and Istanbul Deputy Cüneyt Yüksel and many legal experts have initiated efforts for Israel to be tried before the International Criminal Court.

REJECTION OF CHP'S MOTION REGARDING TENANTS' PROBLEMS

The CHP submitted a group motion for their research motion, which they provided to identify the causes of the problems experienced between landlords and tenants and to determine the measures that need to be taken, to be discussed in the TBMM General Assembly today. However, the CHP's motion was rejected by the votes of AKP and MHP deputies.

Explaining the justification for the group motion, CHP Mersin Deputy Gülcan Kış said the following:

* "The increase in rent prices has gone out of control. There has been a serious increase in tenant-landlord cases in courts. It is stated that in 30 metropolitan cities where 75 percent of Turkey's population lives, the average rent exceeds 79 percent of the minimum wage. Officials, on the other hand, say, 'For the first time in real estate history, we are facing such a price increase.'

* Everywhere in the country, we are witnessing many incidents where people living below the poverty line are thrown onto the street with their belongings because they cannot pay their rent, are beaten by their landlord or tenant, or deaths occur as a result of fights. This crisis has reached the dimension of social insanity, and our citizens have started to pay for the housing crisis that the government cannot solve with their lives. Almost every day, news of fights, suicides, and deaths due to house rents and the housing crisis is reflected in the press. Tensions, injuries, and incidents resulting in death never end, but what are we doing here?

* The AKP government's eyes see neither the poor, nor the retiree, nor the civil servant, nor the minimum wage earner. Wealth is being added to the wealth of a handful of happy minorities, and resources are being transferred to them. The inequality in income distribution has opened deep wounds in the country's economic and social life. This wrong economic policy created by the AKP has also pitted landlords and tenants against each other. We can now call this 'social violence' or 'social insanity.' Despite high interest rates, the credit card debt ratio has increased by 180 percent compared to last year. The number of our citizens who are not subject to enforcement proceedings is almost negligible.

* We hear every day about the 59 billion lira installment housing debt of citizens with TOKİ. Our citizens are condemned to a life in debt. Unfortunately, no citizen can cover their basic expenses with one salary. As long as the extraordinary increases cannot be prevented and permanent solutions are not found, violent incidents will continue to increase. Legal regulations are incomplete or insufficient. I am calling out to my conscientious and sensitive deputy friends sitting in the AKP and MHP rows: Can you show us any country other than Turkey where house rents are higher than salaries? Come, let us all together establish a parliamentary research commission for the housing problem, which is a bleeding wound of the whole country, and for the solution of the problems between landlord and tenant. Let these hands be raised for 'yes' today."

"LIMITING RENT INCREASES IS THE SAME AS PROVIDING PASTA AND COAL AID TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE"

Saadet Party Kayseri Deputy Mahmut Arıkan also expressed the following:

* "At the root of the serious problems experienced between tenant and landlord, just like in other problems, there are interventions made without planning or programs with the effort to save the day. When the purchasing power of a large majority of our citizens fell and their earnings became insufficient to meet their needs, the rent burden inevitably appeared as a major problem. While the revaluation rate for 2023 was 58.46 percent, rent increases were limited to 25 percent; this is nothing but turning one's back on the realities of life.

* If help is to be provided to the tenant - which must certainly be done - the way to do this is to fight against the factors that cause rent increases. Especially the faulty urbanization policies that continued to increase during the AK Party governments made almost 90 percent of the country's land idle, while creating massive cities containing all kinds of problems in the very small remaining area.

* While real estate prices increased beyond imagination due to the rent in those regions, the prices of produced housing and rents rose in the same direction. Limiting rent increases is the same as providing pasta and coal aid to millions of people they have left unemployed and hungry. You will both say 'free market' and impose restrictions like municipal police putting price caps in the bazaar. This is a result of incompetence and confusion."

"A VACANT HOME TAX SHOULD BE INTRODUCED AND HOUSING SALES TO FOREIGNERS SHOULD BE BANNED"

İYİ Party Muğla Deputy Metin Ergun also said the following:

* "For the last three years, housing prices have increased above inflation, and as such, Turkey has become the country where housing prices have increased the most in the world in the Global House Price Index. The February 6 earthquakes occurred after the destruction caused by the government's wrong monetary and migration policies in the housing sector. Hundreds of thousands of houses were destroyed in the earthquakes, and millions of our citizens became homeless; the new demand created after the earthquake created an additional wave of increases in housing prices and rents in metropolitan cities. Our call to the government as the İYİ Party is this: A realistic solution must be found to this problem, which makes access to housing difficult and creates a major housing problem; at this stage, monetary measures alone are insufficient, and additionally, a vacant home tax should be introduced and housing sales to foreigners should be banned."