how i almost got evicted in diyarbakır (and why your electric bill is weirder than your ex)

start with this: i moved here thinking i’d find cheap rent, wild history, and maybe a kebab that didn’t make me cry. instead, i found a 50-year-old boiler that sounds like a dying donkey, a landlord who calls every other day to ask if i’m ‘still breathing,’ and an electricity bill that jumped 187% in six months.

the weather? it’s not ‘mild.’ it’s the kind of sullen gray that rolls in like a pissed-off uncle who forgot his wallet. 40°c in july? sure. 5°c with wind that cuts through your coat like it’s made of wet toilet paper? also sure. and yeah, sirkeci’s 120km northwest - you can be there in two hours if you don’t mind the trucks and the toll booths that take your last lira.

rent? everything’s a negotiation. i pay 2,200tl/month for a 60m² apartment above a butcher shop that opens at 5am. the walls are thin enough to hear every argument, every prayer, every time someone’s modem dies. my neighbor, a retired chemist named emre, told me last week:

> "before 2020, your bill was 300 tl. now? they charge you for having eyebrows."

and he’s not wrong.

according to turkey’s tuike (energy market regulatory authority), diyarbakır’s residential electricity prices rose 186% from jan 2022 to dec 2023 - one of the steepest hikes in the east. gas? you’ll pay 600tl just to heat one room with that ancient radiator they call ‘central heating.’ water’s fine, barely 100tl/month, unless you’re on the 3rd floor and the pumps skip a day. that’s when you learn to wash dishes in the bathtub and scream at the sky.

i asked around. real talk from locals:

> "if you need ac in summer? buy a fan. and a prayer book."
> - from a reddit thread on r/diyarbakir (https://www.reddit.com/r/diyarbakir/)

> "my cousin pays 900tl on his bill and swears he turned everything off. they say it’s because of the readonly meters. nobody knows what that means."
> - overheard at çay bahçesi next to the ulu camii

i freaked out, did some digging. here’s the raw data of what it actually costs:

none of this includes the hidden tax: your sanity.

last week, i walked past the drip-bottle merchant at the market. he told me:

> "you think you’re rich when you have a visa balance? wait till you see your ekim faturası."

the info’s out there. power lines are failing. grid’s overstressed. they don’t tell you that on the turkish tourism site.

you want to survive?
- buy a portable solar charger and act like you’re an eco-hippie (it works)
- learn to say "biraz soğuk" like you mean it, and folks will let you warm up in their kebapçı
- don’t trust the utility office. they’ll charge you for air if you smile too much

final drunk advice from a guy named serdar who runs a typewriter repair shop:

> "diyarbakır doesn’t cost money. it costs your will to live. but the bread? oh boy. the bread makes you forget."

so yeah. rent’s cheap. the lights aren’t. the people? legendary.

link to turkey’s energy regulator (tuike): https://www.tuik.gov.tr/
local subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/diyarbakir/
tripadvisor diyarbakır cost of living thread: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298658-i1508-k12195615-Diyarbakir_Cost_of_Living-Turkey.html
real bills discussion on yerelhaber forum: https://yerelhaber.com/diyarbakir/elektrik-faturasindaki-gelesik/

and if you come here - bring a journal. because they'll ask you what you’ve seen. and really, you'll have no idea. but you’ll be glad you came. even if you’re just here to escape your own country’s utility bill.

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