SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The head of Turkey’s main opposition party said on Wednesday he would not pay his electricity bills until President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdraws recent price increase.
“I will not pay any of my electricity bills from today until Erdogan withdraws the price hikes which he signed on December 31,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in a video released on his Twitter account.
Kilicdaroglu also called for a reduction in the value-added tax imposed on power bill to 1% from 18%, according to Reuters.
Electricity prices were raised by as much as 125% for high-demand commercial users and by around 50% for lower-demand households at the beginning of January.
Shopkeepers, city councils and a religious community group spoke out this week about the rising energy bills, Reuters reported.
Some restaurant owners posted notices on windows highlighting ballooning electricity bills, social media posts showed.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said this week a new measure on power bills would be announced “very soon”.
