21st Term Deputy, Felicity (Saadet) Party General Administrative Board Member and Şanlıurfa Provincial President Mustafa Niyazi Yanmaz made special statements to our newspaper regarding the increasing problems of citizens with the economic depression in the Southeastern Anatolia Region and Şanlıurfa.
"In order for Şanlıurfa to reach the beautiful places it deserves, there is a need for a staff that produces, thinks and will carry our city to even higher levels, namely National Vision staff," he said.
“ŞANLIURFA 8TH LARGEST CITY OF TURKEY”
Mentioning the importance of Şanlıurfa for the Turkish economy, Mustafa Niyazi Yanmaz, "According to the latest population data, Şanlıurfa ranks 8th among 30 metropolitan cities in Turkey in terms of size. Şanlıurfa produces 40% of Turkey's cotton harvest and 60% of pistachios. Our city is the main center of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), which the Republic of Turkey spent 35-40 billion dollars. GAP is a project with 2 functions. The first is energy and the second is irrigation. Within the scope of the project, energy has exceeded 90 percent, but agricultural irrigation is at the level of 40 percent. The heart would have wished that Turkey had completed the irrigation rate to one hundred percent in the GAP project," he added.
“WRONG POLICIES BROUGHT AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK TO THE END POINT”
Yanmaz, who criticizes the government's agricultural policy, "In an environment of Ukraine-Russia crisis, it would be desirable for Turkey to be one of the self-sufficient countries in agriculture. There are misapplications in agricultural policies. We have come to the point of importing wheat, barley, chickpea, sesame and dozens of agricultural products, since the necessary support is not given to livestock and agriculture and the share allocated from the budget is not given to producers as an incentive. Unfortunately, the previous Minister of Agriculture had a very bad expression, he said that we have money so we can import. This is truly a sad state of affairs. It is very sad that such an expression is used by the Minister of Agriculture," he said.
“NEW JOBS ARE NOT OPENING, THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS TOO HIGH”
"In the Southeastern Anatolia Region, per capita income has dropped significantly. The happiest people are those who are satisfied where they were born. Agriculture is not given the necessary importance in our city, the unemployment rate is very high, our people are very pessimistic about life safety. People are always thinking of escaping to bigger cities. In an environment dominated by the rent economy, unfortunately, new business areas do not open, which further increases unemployment. Southeast Anatolia Region is emptying rapidly. The people of Ardahan, Ağrı, Bitlis, Diyarbakır and many other cities have started to migrate to metropolitan cities such as İstanbul, Bursa and İzmir. At this point, the number of people living in rural areas in Turkey has fallen below 10%. For the future of our country and production, rural life and agricultural production should be made more attractive," Yanmaz said.