Istanbul cabs suffer
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Zeyep Mengi - Hürriyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 16, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Pirate cabs are proliferating rapidly, according to a representative of taxi drivers, who says pirates are exploiting the crisis. As thousands of taxis wait for hours at cabstands, owners are unable to pay even social security premiums
Both the economic slowdown and the ever-spreading phenomenon of pirate cabs are embittering taxi drivers in Istanbul.
Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul has 18,000 "official" taxis and 572 shared taxis. Before the crisis struck, they were carrying 1 million passengers in the city. Taxi drivers and owners for a long time complained about a lack of safety due to robberies and even murders, but now their shared complaint is pirate cabs.
Pirate cabs can be found at nearly every corner, said Semih Kaçanoğlu, president of Istanbul’s Chamber of Taxi Drivers Tradesmen. "Regular taxi drivers are aggrieved," he said. "They are not even able to pay their social security premiums. Pirate cab operators have even started to distribute leaflets to houses. They also come to cabstands and harass drivers. In Halkalı, they beat up one driver to the point of being hospitalized. One pirate driver stabbed one of our members. But the authorities are not interested and I have no idea why."
The chamber brought the matter to Interior Minister Beşir Atalay’s attention last month, also giving him the leaflets distributed by pirate cab operators. "I have been touring cabstands in the mornings," Kaçanoğlu said. "I can say that at 9:30 a.m., 7,000 to 8,000 cabs are waiting empty at the cabstands."
"Pirates do not pay one lira in taxes to the government. It is time somebody put a stop to this," he said.
Smart disguise
Pirate cab operators use the "rent-a-car" concept as a disguise and fines have not been able to deter them. "Finance Minister Kemal Unakıtan calls on citizens to pay taxes and be honest all the time. Thousands of people are engaged in pirate cab activity and pay nothing to the government. But the minister is silent," Kaçanoğlu said.
On behalf of Istanbul’s 35,000 taxi drivers, Kaçanoğlu said they request heavy fines for pirate cabs. For example, when caught, the driver and the owner of the pirate cab should pay 5,000 Turkish Liras each and the vehicle should be banned from the streets for six months, while the customer inside the pirate cab should pay a 5,000 lira-fine as well.
"In the past 12 years, 103 colleagues of ours in Istanbul died while working," Kaçanoğlu said. "Nationwide, more than 200 taxi drivers have been killed on duty. They rank after soldiers and police officers in this respect."
As thousands of regular taxis are kept empty by pirate cabs, their owners also cannot pay taxes, he said.
"In all districts and on all streets in Istanbul, pirates are working under the guise of rent-a-car operations," Kaçanoğlu said. "Still, we taxi drivers have not protested on the streets. We are claiming our rights at the table and will continue to do so. Every night we are extorted by criminals. If these incidents do not end in death, the press does not write about them. We are being fined. We are being killed. We are the most aggrieved profession, but nobody hears our voice."
Kaçanoğlu classified pirate cabs as those that work in their own vehicles, those that pose as regular taxis by carrying fake license plates, those that come from other cities to work in Istanbul and those that work under the guise of a rent-a-car company.
A widespread rumor among taxi drivers is that retired police officers are working as pirate taxi drivers or operate pirate cabs, thus they are being tolerated by the police force.
Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul has 18,000 "official" taxis and 572 shared taxis. Before the crisis struck, they were carrying 1 million passengers in the city. Taxi drivers and owners for a long time complained about a lack of safety due to robberies and even murders, but now their shared complaint is pirate cabs.
Pirate cabs can be found at nearly every corner, said Semih Kaçanoğlu, president of Istanbul’s Chamber of Taxi Drivers Tradesmen. "Regular taxi drivers are aggrieved," he said. "They are not even able to pay their social security premiums. Pirate cab operators have even started to distribute leaflets to houses. They also come to cabstands and harass drivers. In Halkalı, they beat up one driver to the point of being hospitalized. One pirate driver stabbed one of our members. But the authorities are not interested and I have no idea why."
The chamber brought the matter to Interior Minister Beşir Atalay’s attention last month, also giving him the leaflets distributed by pirate cab operators. "I have been touring cabstands in the mornings," Kaçanoğlu said. "I can say that at 9:30 a.m., 7,000 to 8,000 cabs are waiting empty at the cabstands."
"Pirates do not pay one lira in taxes to the government. It is time somebody put a stop to this," he said.
Smart disguise
Pirate cab operators use the "rent-a-car" concept as a disguise and fines have not been able to deter them. "Finance Minister Kemal Unakıtan calls on citizens to pay taxes and be honest all the time. Thousands of people are engaged in pirate cab activity and pay nothing to the government. But the minister is silent," Kaçanoğlu said.
On behalf of Istanbul’s 35,000 taxi drivers, Kaçanoğlu said they request heavy fines for pirate cabs. For example, when caught, the driver and the owner of the pirate cab should pay 5,000 Turkish Liras each and the vehicle should be banned from the streets for six months, while the customer inside the pirate cab should pay a 5,000 lira-fine as well.
"In the past 12 years, 103 colleagues of ours in Istanbul died while working," Kaçanoğlu said. "Nationwide, more than 200 taxi drivers have been killed on duty. They rank after soldiers and police officers in this respect."
As thousands of regular taxis are kept empty by pirate cabs, their owners also cannot pay taxes, he said.
"In all districts and on all streets in Istanbul, pirates are working under the guise of rent-a-car operations," Kaçanoğlu said. "Still, we taxi drivers have not protested on the streets. We are claiming our rights at the table and will continue to do so. Every night we are extorted by criminals. If these incidents do not end in death, the press does not write about them. We are being fined. We are being killed. We are the most aggrieved profession, but nobody hears our voice."
Kaçanoğlu classified pirate cabs as those that work in their own vehicles, those that pose as regular taxis by carrying fake license plates, those that come from other cities to work in Istanbul and those that work under the guise of a rent-a-car company.
A widespread rumor among taxi drivers is that retired police officers are working as pirate taxi drivers or operate pirate cabs, thus they are being tolerated by the police force.