Protesting carriers halt fruit shipments across Turkey

ANTALYA - Cihan News Agency

Truck drivers from Antalya have halted fruit and vegetable shipments for four days to protest a regulation that limits their passage through an Istanbul bridge. DHA Photo

Transport drivers who carry food and vegetables across Turkey from southern province of Antalya have suspended all transportation as of Jan. 27 in protest of their inclusion to a ban on heavy vehicles’ passage through an Istanbul bridge in certain hours of the day.

Around 1,500 carriers from 10 cooperatives in Antalya kicked-off the protest yesterday to denounce the decision restricting heavy vehicles from passing through Istanbul’s Fatih Sultan Mehmet (FSM) Bridge between 7 and 10 a.m. in the morning and 4 and 8 p.m. in the evening.

The drivers, who provide most of the fruit and vegetable demand of Istanbul – Turkey’s most-populated city, will shut-down their engines for four days, demanding the regulation decision to be changed.

Head of Alanya Carriers Cooperation, Ahmet Uyar, said the drivers will extend their strike to 15 days if no results come to fruition within four days, adding other cooperatives across the nation pledged to support them as well.

He said the decision will add to the time the trucks wait in the congested Istanbul traffic and will affect the health of the food they carry.

The decision of banning fruit and vegetable trucks from bridge was made a year ago, but could not be reversed despite the carriers’ complaints.