25 Ağustos 2021 Çarşamba

"A Team Redux": The Battle of Keçiören Market, Sparked by a Rotten Peach

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 25 August 2021)














                   There's something rotten in Keciören.

In the Etlik neighborhood of Keçiören, Ankara, the day before yesterday
at about 1830 in the evening, a customer who purchased a peach at the
Osmanlı Semt Market declared the peach to be "ezik" (bruised and 
squashed) and wanted his money back.  The seller took exception to 
the customer's complaint and a fracas ensued, involving just about 
everyone else at the market. 

Keçiören Mayor Turgut Altınok happened to be at the market when
the fighting broke out and tried to intervene.  The combatants were
beyond anyone's control, though, and the market area turned into 
a battlefield, with customers fleeing in panic. 

Police soon arrived to try to quell the uproar but they were pelted
with potatoes and onions (!) by the sellers.  The police then fired 
into the air.  At the end of the 2.5-hour battle, 4 people were taken
to hospital and 13 sellers were taken into custody.  Nine of the 
sellers were released after processing for "resisting" and four others
were jailed for "intentional wounding" (with potatoes and onions).  














"Drop your potatoes and onions and come out with your produce
fresh!"

One of the sellers explained to Hürriyet: "This is not sellers' terror.
The Mayor came that day to inspect the market and a youth argued
with our sellers about a peach.  Half an hour later the municipal 
"A-team" (!) came and beat the seller into a coma.  When the other
sellers saw this they attacked the "A-team"."

Later, Mayor Altınok took to social media and wrote: "For years
we've done everything we could to let citizens shop comfortably
in the face of the market mafia. We're behind honorable sellers, of
course, but we have no tolerance for those who insult customers and 
sell rotten fruit." (!) 











    The Keçiören Municipal A-Team in an undated photo. 

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