The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure lifted the quota application on the High Speed Train (YHT) services for the right of free travel given to the disabled by law. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure abolished the quota defect on High Speed Train services for the right of free travel given to the disabled by law. The Platform for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Transportation announced on social media the quota application, which was removed after the struggle of the disabled, non-governmental organizations and opposition parties. CHP Eskişehir Deputy Utku Çakırözer, who brought the travel restrictions for the disabled to the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, said, “First they took away the right of free travel for the disabled on train services, they applied a quota after the reactions. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the disabled have been fighting for the right to free travel, which has been given to them by law and taken away by TCDD. The quota application for the free travel rights of the disabled was against the Law No. 4736. Now the struggle of non-governmental organizations has yielded results. The quota application has ended,” he said.
TCDD restricted the right to free travel for disabled people by granting free travel rights to only 400 persons with disabilities on 8-person trains and only 600 persons with disabilities on trains of 10 persons on High Speed Train and main line trains. In the presence of the quotas that TCDD description 226 disability rights in Turkey and Disability consisting of associations Transport Rights Platform publicly announcing, the barriers after the quota regime, civil society, gave the struggle of their organization and political party representatives. The quota for disabled people in YHT has ended as of yesterday.
Following the victimization, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, President of the Republican People's Party, called for the elimination of the grievances experienced by the disabled in his group speech at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and Eskişehir Deputy Utku Çakırözer gave a parliamentary question in the Parliament.
CHP member Çakırözer said that his struggle for the acquired rights of the disabled has yielded results, and demanded that the grievances experienced during this process be eliminated. Çakırözer said, “The right to free travel given to the disabled by law was first taken away from them, and then the quota was brought after the reactions. The struggle of our disabled and hundreds of non-governmental organizations since the beginning of the pandemic has yielded results. The quota application for the free travel right of the disabled has ended. But it's not enough! In this process, the grievances of our disabled citizens who were forced to take the train by paying their wages and not using the right granted by law should also be eliminated ”.
While there was no statement from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and TCDD regarding the end of the quota application, the disabled learned that the quota was lifted by purchasing collective tickets. Rights of Persons with Disabilities Transportation said in a statement through social media platform, "Confederation of the Disabled and Turkey after discussions with Ministry officials conducted injured Konfederasyonunu we were waiting no explanation and description. As we were getting ready to take legal action for the return of our rights, we learned that the quota was removed by purchasing collective tickets. On Tuesday, November 3, 2020, 11 disabled friends were able to get free tickets from the same train or even from the same wagon. Thus, we determined that the quota application was removed from now on ”.
In the post, it was announced that "people who have the right to free travel, who do not come to the train by purchasing tickets twice, will not be able to use their rights for 180 days by the system, and those who make this a habit will lose this right indefinitely". – National Newspaper
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