Dozens of villages in rural areas of the Mardin province have been without electricity for twelve days. The supplier, which is close to the AKP, accuses thousands of people of electricity theft without proof and demands huge amounts of back payments.
Thousands of people in the province of Mardin have been completely without electricity for twelve days. The provider Dicle Electricity Distribution Corporation (DEDAŞ) which is close to the AKP and was privatized in 2013, accuses the inhabitants of 40 villages and residential areas in the districts of Kızıltepe and Derik of electricity theft and demands enormous additional payments to enrich themselves at the expense of the citizens.
Only in March, the company, which also has a monopoly on electricity supply in Amed (Diyarbakir), Urfa, Batman, Siirt and Şırnak, came under criticism again when, after a similar incident, a report stated that 86 percent of the population of Mardin illegally tapped electricity. Especially in the rural areas of the province, people have been arbitrarily disconnected from the electricity supply for years, because astronomical demands between 8,000 and 15,000 TL are not paid. The HDP sees a strategy behind this as a way of legitimising the corruption flourishing at DEDAŞ. The provider gains twice as much, since the state pays for the supposed losses.
In Kızıltepe and Derik, the inhabitants live mainly from agriculture and cattle breeding. Due to the interrupted power supply, the people cannot irrigate their cultivated areas, because the water wells are operated by electric pumps. At the moment there is also a curfew in force as part of measures against the Coronavirus pandemic. So far, the people affected have not been able to reach a solution by telephone, as DEDAŞ is no longer responding to calls. Many of the people are now desperate.
