Tuesday market grows bigger with bigger woes
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Jane Tuna
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 06, 2009 00:00
FETHİYE - Shopkeepers in Fethiye complain about unregulated stall holders at the town’s Tuesday market. As people claim that the market has grown ’beyond what is acceptable and become increasingly unregulated,’ some foreign residents and tourists are up in arms about stall holders’ behavior.
The cries in English ring out across Fethiye’s Tuesday market: "Cheaper than shoplifting, cheaper than chips!" Tourists arriving by the air conditioned coach load, soon becoming damp and pink in the heat of the Turkish sun, swarm around the stalls before collapsing into plastic chairs and chewing their way through a gözleme, a traditional Turkish filled pastry bread, or pancake and sipping apple tea.
This description is familiar to anyone who knows Fethiye. It has been famously depicted in literature. Louis de Berniere’s "Birds without Wings" finishes with a picture of the market in the 21st century, a neo-cosmopolitan experience where five pairs of Kelvin Klein underpants can be bought for 5 Turkish Liras.
"The last decade has seen the Tuesday market grow beyond what is acceptable, become increasingly unregulated and chaotic with little regard for health and safety or the rule of law." This hard judgment comes from Akif Arıçan, the head of the Fethiye Chamber of Commerce. "The healthy competition it once provided for our local businesses is now out of kilter and unproductive for our economy. The prices are not even competitive compared with other retail stores."
He continues, "It is not unusual to see bootleg cigarettes on sale, which has a negative impact on the bona fide shopkeeper. Dairy products and olives, which in the rest of Fethiye are kept under stringently enforced hygiene conditions, are on display in open containers. This was always the case in the past but now, when the shopkeepers have to invest in expensive chill and display cabinets, why should the market stall holders be let off the hook?"
Support to this argument comes from the local branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Burhanettin Tuna, a local party official, has already started to air this contentious debate in the local press. And being one of those affected by the unregulated growth of the Tuesday market, he has a lot to be bothered about. "It seems that the shopkeepers of Fethiye are being gradually squeezed out of the local economy. It is having a very negative impact on the town and we must use all our influence to reverse this trend," he said.
It is not just about the unfair competition. The whole scene of Fethiye’s Tuesday market has changed from one selling traditional country fare, to that of an open air store the size of several football fields, with all the hassle and traffic problems that spread far beyond its boundaries. Once in its labyrinthine alleyways, visitors are exposed to the hard-sell techniques that have been actively discouraged in other resorts. Many of the goods are imported from the Far East and fake labeled items are in evidence.
Farmer’s market preferred
This may be fun for some tourists but for foreign residents it is now frequently seen as a stressful experience that is best avoided. "The farmer’s market on Friday still maintains its traditional character and I prefer to go there," explains Abigail Carter who has been visiting Fethiye for the last 15 years. "I find the whole experience of the Tuesday market more and more stressful and exhausting." On the other hand, a Scottish family that was holidaying at a nearby resort and had taken a break from their shopping thought that the market was wonderful as they had "nothing like this at home."
The stall holders themselves come from all over southwest Turkey, often having a stall every day in a different town or location. And this is the main problem for Fethiye’s shopkeepers. They feel they are losing out to a bunch of outsiders and are also suspicious of the legitimacy of the market traders’ business ethics. Do they have licenses? Do they pay tax? And when the shop-bound business community are suffering they look askance at any "stranger" who they feel may be undercutting them or avoiding the bureaucratic hurdles they must endure.
It is certainly true that the physical area occupied by the Tuesday market has more than doubled in the past 10 years but whether the Chamber of Commerce should be complaining about its runaway success, rather than encouraging its members to update their own marketing techniques, is open to debate. They have researched the market culture in various European countries, from Ireland to Italy, from which they could certainly learn some valuable lessons.
It is interesting to observe that there are still some quite bizarre and unique stalls adjacent to the plastic goods, clothes and garden produce. A solitary old woman is selling bottles of water containing a selection of leeches, and a man sitting under a shady eucalyptus tree has his selection of religious books, holy tracts and pamphlets about natural cures, and there are stalls selling "Kar Şerbeti," snow from the mountains high above Fethiye mixed with grape molasses or cherry juice. They are there without fail every week, and are a reminder to everyone who walks past them that this market is an age-old tradition. So, thankfully not everything has changed.
At least, not yet.
This description is familiar to anyone who knows Fethiye. It has been famously depicted in literature. Louis de Berniere’s "Birds without Wings" finishes with a picture of the market in the 21st century, a neo-cosmopolitan experience where five pairs of Kelvin Klein underpants can be bought for 5 Turkish Liras.
"The last decade has seen the Tuesday market grow beyond what is acceptable, become increasingly unregulated and chaotic with little regard for health and safety or the rule of law." This hard judgment comes from Akif Arıçan, the head of the Fethiye Chamber of Commerce. "The healthy competition it once provided for our local businesses is now out of kilter and unproductive for our economy. The prices are not even competitive compared with other retail stores."
He continues, "It is not unusual to see bootleg cigarettes on sale, which has a negative impact on the bona fide shopkeeper. Dairy products and olives, which in the rest of Fethiye are kept under stringently enforced hygiene conditions, are on display in open containers. This was always the case in the past but now, when the shopkeepers have to invest in expensive chill and display cabinets, why should the market stall holders be let off the hook?"
Support to this argument comes from the local branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Burhanettin Tuna, a local party official, has already started to air this contentious debate in the local press. And being one of those affected by the unregulated growth of the Tuesday market, he has a lot to be bothered about. "It seems that the shopkeepers of Fethiye are being gradually squeezed out of the local economy. It is having a very negative impact on the town and we must use all our influence to reverse this trend," he said.
It is not just about the unfair competition. The whole scene of Fethiye’s Tuesday market has changed from one selling traditional country fare, to that of an open air store the size of several football fields, with all the hassle and traffic problems that spread far beyond its boundaries. Once in its labyrinthine alleyways, visitors are exposed to the hard-sell techniques that have been actively discouraged in other resorts. Many of the goods are imported from the Far East and fake labeled items are in evidence.
Farmer’s market preferred
This may be fun for some tourists but for foreign residents it is now frequently seen as a stressful experience that is best avoided. "The farmer’s market on Friday still maintains its traditional character and I prefer to go there," explains Abigail Carter who has been visiting Fethiye for the last 15 years. "I find the whole experience of the Tuesday market more and more stressful and exhausting." On the other hand, a Scottish family that was holidaying at a nearby resort and had taken a break from their shopping thought that the market was wonderful as they had "nothing like this at home."
The stall holders themselves come from all over southwest Turkey, often having a stall every day in a different town or location. And this is the main problem for Fethiye’s shopkeepers. They feel they are losing out to a bunch of outsiders and are also suspicious of the legitimacy of the market traders’ business ethics. Do they have licenses? Do they pay tax? And when the shop-bound business community are suffering they look askance at any "stranger" who they feel may be undercutting them or avoiding the bureaucratic hurdles they must endure.
It is certainly true that the physical area occupied by the Tuesday market has more than doubled in the past 10 years but whether the Chamber of Commerce should be complaining about its runaway success, rather than encouraging its members to update their own marketing techniques, is open to debate. They have researched the market culture in various European countries, from Ireland to Italy, from which they could certainly learn some valuable lessons.
It is interesting to observe that there are still some quite bizarre and unique stalls adjacent to the plastic goods, clothes and garden produce. A solitary old woman is selling bottles of water containing a selection of leeches, and a man sitting under a shady eucalyptus tree has his selection of religious books, holy tracts and pamphlets about natural cures, and there are stalls selling "Kar Şerbeti," snow from the mountains high above Fethiye mixed with grape molasses or cherry juice. They are there without fail every week, and are a reminder to everyone who walks past them that this market is an age-old tradition. So, thankfully not everything has changed.
At least, not yet.