No libraries opened in 44 provinces of Turkey in last 10 years: Report

ISTANBUL

No new libraries have opened in 44 provinces of Turkey over the last 10 years, according to the data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

Independent Deputy Aylin Nazlıaka asked a question regarding the “library numbers in Turkey” to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a part of the right to information act.

Nazlıaka shared the ministry’s data with the press, stating that there were 1,140 libraries across Turkey.

Library numbers have decreased 16.6 percent in the last 10 years despite the 19.2 percent increase in the country’s population between 2004 and 2016, according to the ministry’s data.

A total of 25,436,000 people live in these provinces. They include the eastern provinces of Ağrı, Bitlis and Artvin, the central Anatolian provinces of Eskişehir, Konya, Yozgat and Kırıkkale, the southeastern provinces of Siirt, Gaziantep, Mardin, Hakkari, the western province of Muğla and the Black Sea province of Samsun.

Meanwhile over the past 10 years, 66 libraries have opened in 37 provinces of Turkey where 54,436,000 people live, according to the data.

The data also revealed that there was a new library per 1,471,000 people.

Some 127 libraries are still closed across the country, including seven in Diyarbakır, six in Kastamonu and Nevşehir and five in Erzincan.

Nazlıaka also criticized the government over the lack of libraries, saying that the government did not use its power for education, science and culture and preferred to build double roads instead.