ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Residents of the Kurdish province of Agri in eastern Turkey took to the streets on Friday to protest recent hikes in electricity and natural gas prices. Hundreds of people from Agri’s Dogubayazit (Bazid) district protested the prices which have gone up this year. Turkey’s state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) said on Monday that it had raised the price of natural gas due to the increased cost of electricity. This has affected the prices of the energy resources consumed by people, reported pro-government Daily Sabah on Tuesday. Natural gas prices for residential use were raised by 25 percent last month, while they jumped by 50 percent for industrial use. Prices for high-use consumers saw a 125 percent increase and those with lower consumptions rates saw a 50 percent lower bill, added the news outlet. Some social media users called on people not to pay electricity bills as a protest against the hikes. The hikes come as the value of the country’s currency against the US dollar dropped dramatically over the last year. One dollar is currently worth about 13 liras. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country does not have natural gas issues, adding that they have reduced natural gas consumption only for industrial purposes. Erdogan also said that they are interested in importing natural gas from Israel and are in talks with Iraqi and Kurdistan Region authorities to import natural gas from Iraq.
