The city where people ask for state aid for the payment of air conditioning. “We cannot cope with the heat”

The residents of Silopi, a city in Turkey where the temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius on Friday, are facing a suffocating heat and asked for state aid to pay their electricity bills, AFP reports.

“We cannot cope with the heat,” the 59 -year -old Recep Esiok ice cream producer told AFP in Silopi, where meteorologists measured 50.5 degrees Celsius on Friday – a national record.

“I live in silo for about 30 years. I have never seen so much heat … I have never seen so much heat anywhere,” the man continued.

Using the air conditioning in his store, he is now worried about the payment of electricity.

“My bill last month was 59,000 pounds (about 6,400 lei, no). We ask for state support in this regard,” said Recep EsiK.

Before the Friday record, the last temperature peak in Turkey had been 49.5 degrees Celsius and the date of August 2023.

Scientists agree that climatic changes caused by fossil fuel burning increase the probability, duration and intensity of heat waves.

“The heat has reached a point where it is incomparable with previous years,” said Halil Coskun, 52, a local reporter.

Fires in several areas of the country

Since the beginning of the summer, fires have taken place in several regions of Turkey.

Last week, 10 people died while extinguishing a fire in Eskisehir province.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the country has faced more dry conditions than normal over the last five years, as a result of global warming.

“Extreme heat, low humidity and strong winds increase, unfortunately, the risk of fire,” the Turkish leader warned.

He said the state is using drones to monitor and protect the forests.

The streets were relatively deserted, and the atmosphere was tense in the silks, a Kurd city whose main source of income is the trade with Iraq, abroad, 10 kilometers away.

“When it's hot, there is no one outside the day,” Esiok said.

Other locals complained about the lack of vegetation to offer areas of refuge in the locality, which are at the foot of a mountain.

“Unfortunately, the forests here have been burned in the past for security reasons,” Coskun said.

The reporter said that the Turkish army made deforestation when he was looking for the fighters of the Kurdistan workers (PKK), a rebel group that recently laid the weapons.

In addition, the Turkish Parliament has adopted this month a draft law that opens certain agricultural lands, including olive plants, for mining activities, despite the widespread opposition.

“The air conditioning is essential”

Sweating in his kebab store, another local, Cemil Seher, said that summer summer summer, but five.

For Seher, 51 years old, air conditioning is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

“The air conditioning is essential here as much as bread and water,” he said.

“When the air conditioners work, electricity invoices are very high,” he said, asking the authorities to offer discounts for the business environment.

“I want a discount not only for the silo, but for the entire region from here to Sanlurfa,” Seher added.

“I do not make a profit because I worked … to pay my electricity bill,” the man concluded.

Photo: Grecu Mihail Alin | Dreamstime.com