Gulistan Azak

 

DİYARBAKIR - Women in Diyarbakır, one of the cities with the highest poverty, said: "We do not want the help of the state. We want our right."

 

The economic crisis is getting deeper with the pandemic. Citizens who are experiencing the consequences of the crisis deeply form long lines for hours for food and similar items that are given free of charge in many places to meet their needs. Citizens, whose social distance is forgotten, who continue to wait just to meet their needs at that moment, are reactive.

 

In Diyarbakır, one of the cities with the highest poverty and unemployment, women spoke to our agency.

 

‘The one who is not poor does not wait in line for so many hours’

 

Expressing that she cannot make a living, Fatma Özdemir said: "The poor need work, not help. All four of my children are unemployed. I am 54 years old, looking for a job. We cannot even buy bread. If only you could see our cupboard, then you would understand it much better. There is no one who sees or listens to us. 40-50 women are waiting for half a bag of provisions for hours. The one who is not poor does not wait in line for so many hours."

 

‘We became needy for half a bag of provisions’

 

Pointing to unemployment as the cause of poverty, Hasibe Karlı said: "Women waiting in line and their families do not work. The cause of poverty and lines of need is unemployment. You cannot make a living with half a bag of provisions. There is electricity, water, rent. We cannot get along. Everyone at home is unemployed. We became needy for half a bag of provisions."

 

‘We want our right’

 

Vahibe Ortaç from Tilalo (Karaçalı) village said that although she lived alone, her pension was not enough for her. Vahibe said: "While I am in this situation, I cannot think of the people living in the city. When I give the electricity, water, and telephone bills, I have nothing left in my pocket at the end of the month. The government distributes potatoes. The public does not ask anyone for help, we want job. My children and grandchildren who graduated from university are unemployed. One of my grandchildren could not stand being unemployed in the city, came to my house, to the village. Young people commit suicide due to unemployment. My heart is burning when I read that news. Let the government prevent the deaths of young people who commit suicide due to unemployment. We do not want the help of the state. We want our right."

 

‘We want job, not help’

 

Emine Ortaç, from the same village, stated: "We cannot make a living, everything is too expensive. You know, they say, we needed bread. We want our rights to be asked and taken from those who made us this way. They were handing out potatoes. Where shall we cook the potato? Is there oil? We want job, not help."

 

‘There is raise for everyday’

 

Emine stated that hundreds of people were dismissed on the grounds of pandemics and summarized the poverty that occurred as a result of this with the following words: "Due to poverty, children are hungry and tearful; the spouses are in a quarrel. There is raise for everyday. Not that much. The country has officially failed. We put everything forward for the education of our children, but they are unemployed. We have not asked anything from the state until now. The only thing we want is the job we deserve."