KESK protests privatization of public bridges and highways

Members of the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions (KESK) gathered in Sinop's Uğur Mumcu Square to protest the planned transfer of operating rights for public bridges and highways to private entities for 30-year terms.

KESK spokesperson Nurgül Bayrak criticized the government's policy, stating that the administration is effectively trading away 30 years of future public revenue for immediate use, often involving treasury guarantees and significant losses. While the Ministry of Treasury and Finance maintains that these are transfers of operating rights rather than sales of ownership, Bayrak argued the economic reality is different.

Protesters highlighted the disparity in costs between state-operated and privately operated infrastructure. For instance, they noted that while car tolls on the 15 July Martyrs and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges are 59 TL, tolls on the privately operated Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge are approximately 110 TL. They also cited the Osmangazi Bridge toll at 1,170 TL and compared the Ankara-Niğde highway toll of 925 TL to the 338 TL fee for the state-operated Istanbul-Ankara Anadolu highway.