One ‘needs $2,753 to move to village’

ISTANBUL

A minimum of 50,000 Turkish Liras ($2,753) are needed to leave the urban life and move into a village, says a man who left the city life of Istanbul behind to settle down in a village in the Aegean province of Muğla with his family.

“Those who want to reside in a village should be the ones who like to work with soil, love animals and make good relations with people,” Enes Çıtak, who worked as a school bus driver in Istanbul, told the daily Milliyet on Aug. 28.

“It sounds good to live in a village, but it’s something that’s hard. Many people who could not adapt returned to cities,” said Çıtak, who is now living in a village house in the Köyceğiz district with his wife, Kevser, and his son.

“Life in the city is more expensive than the village for sure but is not as cheap as one might think,” he added.

The advantage a village presents is that “one can raise their own vegetables and fruits on land to save money.”

When asked about the prices, he added: “An average village house’s monthly rent is 3,000 liras [$165], while the price of plots differs from 1.5 million and 8 million [$82,585 and $440,458].”

Saying that “every step one takes in a city costs money,” Çıtak stated that “life passes in a village with ‘daily village work.’”

“We irrigate our plots early in the morning. Then we milk the goats and clean the garden,” Çıtak said, adding that he feeds the animals after breakfast.

After watering the garden and the plots, the day ends with dinner and drinking tea from a samovar.