Who killed the poor villager, Fahriye Gürbüz ? ▻https://www.duvarenglish.com/columns/2019/12/17/who-killed-the-poor-villager-fahriye-gurbuz
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n December 5, employees of the electricity distribution company, with masked security forces accompanying them, raided the village of Dilekli in the Yüksekova district very early in the morning, HDP deputy Sait Dede went on to reference, quoting from the local press. According to Dede’s statement, “During this raid, 45-year-old Fahriye Gürbüz, mother of five, suffered a heart attack and died after witnessing masked people raid her house.”
“Türkerler Holding, which bought 100 percent of the shares of the Van Lake Electricity Distribution Company (VEDAŞ), started a new practice in 2016. They chose Van province’s Gevaş district as a pilot region and began installing consumers’ electric meters at the top of the connecting posts, a practice never seen in the rest of the country. According to the regulation on Measures to Minimize the Losses in the Distribution System, Article 11, first paragraph, there is a clause that allows the distribution company to install the electric meters at places other than those specified within the regulation. This is to fight against the illegal use of electricity and other losses. This clause has been interpreted broadly by the distribution company against the consumer, and a humiliating practice has been introduced. Today, this practice, which has been put into effect in almost all of east and southeastern Turkey, has also created several problems. The fact that electric meters have been somehow snatched away from the access and control of consumers has made it so that the figures cannot be monitored. The consumer is unable to monitor their consumption, and most of the time they are subject to high bills. When faced with an objection, the private company accepts that the excessive consumption bills were due to software mistakes or misreading of the meters, and it corrects them. Naturally, the consumer objects to any bills they receive that are very high, and apart from that, bills that seem normal are out of their control. When the enormous number of subscribers is taken into consideration, this results in a very big total. None of the consumers know how much power they have spent in a given period. The physical search for the illegal usage of electricity, and the reading of the electric meters, are usually done by VEDAŞ during the night with the support of security forces, creating a fearful and tense atmosphere for the citizens — like in the medieval era. Often, walls are ruptured and electric systems are damaged, but most importantly, the attitude of the employees of the private company and the security forces are degrading for citizens.
