CHP leader to stay in dark for a week in protest of electricity prices

ANKARA

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) whose house electricity was cut off due to unpaid bills, said he and his wife will stay without electricity for one week to continue his protest over high utility bills.

“We will, with my wife, live in the dark [in our house] for one week,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in a video message he posted on his Twitter account late on April 21. Kılıçdaroğlu and his wife recorded the video under the light of candles at their house.

The authorities cut off the CHP leader’s electricity after he refused to pay the bills in reaction to a big increase in prices. He said he is doing this in order to reflect the voices of those people who cannot afford to pay the high utility bills.

“No prosperity can be achieved in a society where masses cannot even pay their bills, access food, education and jobs. Justice can only be achieved if the fundamental needs of the people can be provided for. It is only then when countries can develop and produce welfare,” he said.

“I am in dark against this injustice caused by greedy politicians,” Kılıçdaroğlu stated, accusing the government of favoring a few large private energy distributing companies instead of the people.

The CHP leader argued that the electricity of around 4 million households has been cut due to unpaid bills. “I am doing this so that their voices can be heard. My action is not a call for disobedience. This is a resistance and a struggle for rights,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu has not been paying his bills since February. He will have electricity back in his flat next week after paying his unpaid bills.