''WE EXPECT THE FEDERATION TO PROTECT THE ARTISANS''

Let's be honest, we don't come across such an organized, clean and well-maintained facility with proper pavement very often. We began to travel this beautiful facility as we chatted with President Şevket.

The number of members of S.S. Adıyaman Motor Vehicles Cooperative No. 1 has decreased from 360 to 200. The facility was moved here, where it currently stands, 3 years ago. Before that, it was in downtown Adıyaman. President Şevket has told us that this new facility is 14 thousand square meters. The facility belongs to the cooperative and President Çalgan said: "I think it is worth nearly 20 Million Liras."

"This Place Will Be Bankrupt If Fuel Prices Continue to Rise Everyday"

"In previous years, we mostly transported tobacco for foreign companies. Nowadays, we mostly carry textile products. Most of those operations consist of transportations to İzmir and Bursa. Currently, we're only serving the domestic sector." When we told President Şevket about how organized the facility is, he answered: "There is a discipline for everything in this place. In that sense, I can say that this is the only exemplary cooperative in the Southeast. However, this place will also be bankrupt if fuel prices continue to rise every day. Even though it dropped a bit in the last few days, it still hasn't been introduced to pump stations."

There are 30-40 vehicles at S.S. Adıyaman Motor Vehicles Cooperative No. 1. There is an operation queue between the vehicles. Vehicles take jobs when it is their turn. When asked about the biggest issue they've ever faced, President Şevket said: "Lack of business is our biggest issue. Business has significantly dropped since last year. Fuel prices went up. Restaurant owners, industrialists, tire manufacturers and diesel suppliers all depend on us. When we don't have business, they can't do business either. When a vehicle goes from here to İzmir, it consumes a ton of diesel. But what happens when it doesn't operate? It leads to the loss of both diesel suppliers and drivers. So far, I talked to the Federation President a few times. We spoke with him last year in Cyprus and Antakya in the previous year. We talk every year. We regularly pay our subscription fees. However, there still hasn't been any progress."

"How Will We Compete with Large Companies Under These Circumstances"

Upon his words, we asked him about what concrete terms they're expecting from the federation: "We expect the federation to protect the artisans. Why do they offer discounted diesel to large companies but not to these poor people? How will we compete with large companies under these circumstances? Road Transport Legislation entered into force in 2004 and then they began issuing the documents. We paid so much money for those documents at the time. What were the benefit of those documents for us? In those times, they talked about so many benefits that this document would've brought. The General Manager said: "Here are its benefits; large companies won't be able to receive cargoes from the market aside from their own cargoes." Well, why are we still waiting for that to happen? When we enter a tender, someone with a K1 document comes and cuts us off. This was not supposed to happen. We paid 60 thousand liras for that. Why did we even pay that? Every day, they tell us to "Remove that region and this region"... We fulfil all these demands. But I don't think that we were able to get anything in return. For example, we talked to the Minister of Customs and Trade last year. They told us that they would make the necessary improvements. However, there still aren’t any improvements. Our artisans, truckers, have no family lives any they have to work night and day. They work with their neck on the line. As we concluded our facility visit with President Şevket, we asked him whether he has any final messages and he said: "We won't be able to unite unless the federation protects us. The federation needs to protect us."