“Antalya is puffing up like a balloon and is about to burst,” – this is the assessment of the situation in the city, said the head of the Department of Migration Studies of Akdeniz University, Dr. Hasan Aygul. The main problem of the resort is the huge number of migrants, or rather two waves of migration, from foreigners and refugees from the earthquake regions. And this can threaten the resort with extremely unpleasant clashes, – said a Turkish expert on the pages of the Turkrus publication.
“About 163,000 foreigners live in Antalya. This is a serious number. Once a city of retirees and students, a city with cheap housing, it is becoming the province that receives the largest number of foreigners after Istanbul. Since February of last year, Antalya has accepted Ukrainians, then Russians, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs prefer to work here, even earlier the city accepted Iranians and Syrians. The last wave was more than 150,000 people who arrived here after the earthquake,” said the professor. As a result, “Antalya will rise like a balloon” and the city’s reserves are almost exhausted, the professor assured.
The main problem is the rise in prices for everything and primarily for housing. According to the expert, prices have risen by 195%. “This is no longer a city where people can work for years, buy a house and settle down with their savings,” comments Mr. Aigul.
He also emphasized that neither the housing market nor life in Antalya is cheap anymore, especially for those displaced due to the earthquake. “At the same time, they see what Ukrainian and Russian immigrants can afford. Who began to live in the best houses, which send their children to private schools,” explained the Turkish expert. According to him, so far the economic situation is somehow kept “afloat”, but it is very unreliable.
“You can become a foreigner in your own country in an instant. This additionally makes a person unhappy, unhappiness breeds anger, and anger can at any moment become a reason for an attack,” added Mr. Aigul. He is also sure that the situation is gradually heating up.