Shopping centers force tradesmen to migrate

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Large shopping centers and markets harm the socio-economic infrastructure of the regions in which they are built and harm the diversity of local tradesmen, Confederation of Turkish Craftsmen and Tradesmen (TESK) President Bendevi Palandöken has said.

“Shopping centers and supermarkets constructed in the small provinces of Anatolia have forced local tradesmen to shut down their shops and migrate,” read Palandöken’s written statement.

“We no longer see local shop keepers in the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods have been abandoned to the barber shops and tea houses. We cannot allow the big to swallow the small. We need to pass a ‘retail code’ as soon as possible without wasting any more time,” the statement continued.

According to Palandöken, many of the shopping centers and markets are being built in the remaining grassy areas of the towns, and there are currently plans to build shopping centers in 32 new cities and towns.

The number of shopping centers will hit 340 by the end of 2012, Palandöken said, taking up 9 million square meters of space. He said the trend was pushing the world’s talented craftsmen and tradesmen to the big cities, where they have no choice but to become workers and laborers.