Ski educators in need of support, MP says

BURSA - Hürriyet Daily News

The state should step up its efforts to help the skiing trainers in Uludağ, a popular winter sports resort in Bursa, according to a deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). AA photo

A deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has called on Youth and Sports Minister Suat Kılıç to pay more attention to ski and snowboard trainers and issued a parliamentary question regarding the ministry’s efforts to solve trainers’ problems.

Ski instructors in Turkey lack technical and financial support and work under heavy conditions despite society thinking differently, says Aykan Erdemir, Bursa deputy of the CHP.

“Uludağ is the center of winter sports in Turkey and it’s the most prestigious location [for winter travel], but when it comes to personnel working in this sector conditions are far from being excellent,” Erdemir told the Hürriyet Daily News in a recent interview.

Financial help

Trainers who work only for three or four months, cannot pay the hotel prices and are forced to travel between the mountain and the city center, which is a distance of about 40 kilometers, he said.

Erdemir asked if the ministry had completed any studies to determine the problems relating to working on the mountains and what the government could do to solve them in a parliamentary question addressed to Minister of Sport Kılıç.

A snowboard trainer in an Uludağ ski resort, Utku Acar, said they were charged high taxes and were not provided with accommodations by course managements.

“If Turkey wants to see itself be represented in the Winter Olympics then there must be something done to enhance our conditions,” he told the Daily News.