Habibe Eren-Sena Dolar

 

ISTANBUL - Güler Yıldız, who has been running the cafe on İstiklal Street with her children for 12 years, reacts to the government leaving the shopkeepers without support in the process of lockdown. Stating that she resists not take down the shutters to be a hope for her children, Güler said: "Social state means standing by the victim. They say ‘close’ but do not give aid packages to the shopkeeper. We are faced with a different decision every day."

 

Due to the ‘lockdown’ decisions taken at certain intervals during the pandemic process, the shops open and close one after another, causing difficult times for the shopkeepers. While the decisions taken by the government overnight further deepened the economic crisis, small businesses were one of the sections whose fate was not considered during the pandemic process. Many shopkeepers had to take down the shutters while most shopkeepers could not pay their rent due to sudden lockdowns. According to the data of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), in 2020, when the pandemic started, 101,318 companies were established with an increase of 20.47 percent, 31,036 commercial enterprises with an increase of 26.89 percent and 1476 cooperatives with an increase of 27.13 percent. In December, the number of companies closed increased by 43.57 percent and the number of commercial enterprises closed increased by 141.28 percent on an annual basis. It would not be wrong to say that the number will increase even more if the year 2021 is added to the said data.

 

While the full lockdown imposed across Turkey starts without support to the shopkeepers, it does not cover the expenses of the shopkeepers if the businesses only continue the takeaway service. As we learn from shopkeepers, some shop owners had to close because they could not make any profit. Shopkeeper Güler Yıldız, who says that she resists keeping her business alive, resists keeping the shop open among closed businesses every day to keep the shops that her children have run for 12 years but are on the verge of closing and to give hope to her children.

 

‘We are trying to save the day we passed the rent’

 

Resisting to take down the shutters by cooking pancakes at the entrance of the three-storey cafe on İstiklal Street, Güler said: "We are considered shopkeeper by birth because the economic situation taught us this. We have been running the cafe with my children for 12 years. First, they built a building in front of the shop and we were hit from there, and now we cannot do anything due to the pandemic. We gave up the rent and insurance of the shop and we are working to save our day. Let's see how far it will go." Complaining, 'You see our situation', Güler emphasized that the three-storey cafe was empty and that they were badly affected by the pandemic, “Now that we have come to the street, there is no more than that. We were very impressed. There is no financial aid. This is how we try to stand up."

 

‘My mind does not take the practices of the state’

 

Noting that her retirement money is enough to spend only one day, Güler said: "Our end is not good at all. I say it will be good so that our hope is not broken, but we are in a bad situation. Opening and closing a shop in Turkey is another problem. They keep us in, the streets are full of tourists. If we are so infected, do they not have any viruses? Even my mind does not take the practices of the state."

 

‘There is a lockdown but there is no support for shopkeepers’

 

Emphasizing that there is no social state understanding in Turkey and the government does not think of citizens, Güler continued her words as follows: "Social state means standing with the victim. They say ‘close’, but they do not send aid packages to the shopkeepers. A Contribution should be made to electricity, water, and rent. We have been paying taxes for years. They could close nicely for 20 days. If we had reinforcements for 20 days and all workplaces were closed, the virus would not have spread so much and the process would not have been that long. It went wrong from the beginning and the end goes wrong. We are faced with another decision every day."