The usurpers appointed by the AKP to DBP’s municipalities in Van, including the metropolitan municipality, have sold off all assets of the municipalities and put them in deep debt. DBP’s Van Metropolitan Municipality and Erciş Municipality were taken over by the trustees debt-free, and in two short years, they fell under millions of Liras of debt. The trustee for Van Water and Sewer Works (VASKI) under the Van Metropolitan Municipality and the Erciş Municipality trustee failed to pay the power bill of the water network, so the company cut off power for the water network. With the power cut, the 200.000 strong population of Erciş was left without water.

THE ONLY SERVICE THEY PROVIDE IS AGGRIEVEMENT

The people are constantly aggrieved due to the debt the usurped municipalities have accumulated. After the DBP municipalities were usurped in 2016, all real estate was sold in a short time, and virtually gifted to AKP supporters. The AKP thieves sold off all assets of the municipalities and pushed them deep into debt. One of these is the Erciş Municipality.

Erciş has seen 3 large scale earthquakes in the last century that resulted in great destruction. Thousands of people lost their lives and tens of thousands were wounded. The people of Erciş have suffered through great pains throughout history, and have always been exploited by the state. After the last great earthquake in 2011, the earthquake housing that cost 30.000 Liras were sold to the people for 90.000 Liras. The New Erciş Public Hospital’s foundations were laid in 2008, and the construction has become a profiteering site for the AKP in the 10 years, still unfinished. The only thing the state has invested in Erciş to date has been profiteering.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES EMERGE IN THE CITY WITHOUT WATER

The AKP and the usurper trustee have turned Erciş into a profiteering site, and for the last 10 days the 200.000 residents have been without water because of it. Infectious diseases have tarted to emerge, as hundreds of babies, children and old people have visited the Erciş Public Hospital with symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. If the district doesn’t get the water back soon, infectious diseases are sure to spread.

“ONLY THING THEY KNOW IS TO ROB PEOPLE”

The lack of water in the district has caused protests among the people. The district residents spoke to the ANF and said the trustees take hundreds of liras in water costs every night from each household: “For days, 200.000 people in the district have been without water. But the authorities don’t even feel the need to explain anything. We haven’t had running water for 10 days. We have no potable water, we can’t wash ourselves. How can the Van Metropolitan Municipality and Erciş Municipality be unable to pay the power bill for the water network?

Where does the money they collect from us each month go? Do they spend it on themselves and not in services? We didn’t have such problems during the DBP administrations. Our municipalities used to give us our money’s worth in services. But the trustees take from us and give to their own supporters. If they used the money they collect from us for services, today there would be water in Erciş. The only thing they know is to rob people. We will hold them to account in the coming local elections.”