ANKARA - Ankara University student who protested the KYK scholarships, said they have to work outside the school hours to get by because of the economic crisis and they can't meet their basic needs.
Many students have to work and go to school because of the economic crisis in last few years. Students face their scholarships being cut beside their livelihood problems. Ankara University (AU) students protested General Directorate of Higher Education Loans and Dormitories Institution (KYK) with the slogan 'We want to live a humane life', but they faced a police intervention and 25 students were detained in the demonstration.
We spoke to the students, detained in the protests about the reflections of the crisis to the students.
AU Political Science Public Administration student Ertürk Soysal who has to work part time in a library in Kızılay, said: "Economic crisis effects a large segment of the society deeply. We are one of them. I have 2 flat mates. The rents are too high and therefore the apartments we can afford are too old. Heating and electricity is also very expensive. Trying to pay all these, we don't have a social life."
'WE CANNOT EAT HEALTHY'
Ertürk Soysal who states that the can not eat healthy, said: "We can't allocate a budget for culinary shopping. We eat pasta almost everyday." Soysal who works in his time he needs to be studying, said: "There is an educational inequality between us, the poor and the children of the rich, which will definately effect our future."
'THE SYSTEM CONDEMNS US TO DEATH'
Stating that the pressure on the students that opposes the current system makes life more challenging economically, said: "Our scholarships are being cut, we are expelled from our dormitories and go through investigations because we oppose the system."
A 4th year student at AU Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Şeyda Yazıcı said: "A fact that determines students' lives and connects students with invisible threads is the debt. We can call the society we live in, a society of debt." Stating that they are deprived of their right to shelter and healthy nutrition, Yazıcı said: "We are deprived of the rights that the state should grant free of charge. We are deeply affected by the economic crisis, like everyone else."
MA / Emrullah Acar