AGIRÎ - 2 thousand 179 kilometres of Agirî's (Ağrı) 2 thousand 636 kilomtres of village roads are still stabilised. Melik Ozmus, co-chiar of the People's Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Provincial General Assembly said: "The appointed ones act according to the policies of the government and divide the people according to their preferences."

 

Agirî ranks 6th with 564 villages in the list of cities with the highest number of villages according to 2024 data of the Turkish Statical Institute (TUIK). However, although it is at the forefront in the ranking of the most villages, it is one of the cities lagging behind in terms of "service". 

 

According to data from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, Agirî has 3 thousand 636 kilometres of rural roads. Although all roads in the city are classified as Grade 1 roads, 2 thousand 279 kilometres of them are stabilised roads. With these statistics, Agiri ranks 4th in the list of the most stabilised village roads after Artvin, Giresun and Kastamonu in the Eastern Black Sea region. 

 

Agirî, which is second only to Kütahya in the ranking of village roads, has one thousand 195 kilometres of village roads, of which one thousand 57 kilometres are stabilised. Even in Kütahya, which has the highest number of stabilised village roads in Turkey, 169 kilometres of in-village roads are covered with asphalt and 962 kilometres with cobblestones, while only 138 kilometres are covered with cobblestones in Agirî.

 

VILLAGES PENALISED

 

In Agirî ranks at the bottom in terms of services for rural areas and partial services are also distributed according to political preferences. Responsible for rural services, Ağrı Provincial Special Provincial Administration, provides services to villages close to the ruling party. In the maps shared by the Special Provincial Administration of Ağrı under the title "Our Village Roads", it is noteworthy that the majority of the village roads constructed and planned to be constructed are in villages that mostly voted for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the elections. 

 

The village of Avamasîya, which is among the villages where services are not provided, is one of the most concrete examples of the policy pursued by the Special Provincial Administration. In the village of Avamasîya, where 714 people live, the DEM Party received 81 percent of the votes in the 2024 local elections, while the AKP received only 15 percent of the votes. Avamasîya, the 8th largest village in Agirî, is 28 kilometres from the city centre and 3 kilometres from the historical Silk Road. Despite being so close to the centre and the main road, the road of the village, the 1 km part of the group village road and the entire village road are all stabilised. 

 

POLITICAL PREFERENCES ARE DECISIVE IN SERVICE 

 

DEM Party Agirî Provincial General Assembly Co-Chair Melik Ozmus stated that services to the villages in Agirî are provided according to political preferences and emphasised that Agirî is one of the cities with the highest number of villages in the country and therefore should receive more services. He said: "At the moment, the government provides services to the villages that voted for them. It does not provide any service to the villages that did not vote for it. Our villages are being penalised in this way."

 

'LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SHOULD BE STRENGTHENED'

 

Ozmus stated that mukhtars went to the Secretary General of the Special Provincial Administration for the asphalting of village roads, but they were told that "we do not bring services because there are no votes for the AK Party" and concluded: "Now we are talking about the construction of a democratic society. One of the steps to be taken in this process is the empowerment of local governments. People appointed by the central government act according to the policies of the government and separate the people according to their political preferences. Those who should approach everyone equally and fairly are sowing seeds of discord among the society. When local administrations are strengthened, these problems will be prevented." 

 

MA / Omer Akin