Hurriyet, Turkey
March 26 2010
Armenians shoulder Laleli’s dwindling suitcase trade
Thursday, March 25, 2010
VERCÄ°HAN ZÄ°FLÄ°OÄ?LU
ISTANBUL ` Hürriyet Daily News
The Emniyet Bus Station in Istanbul’s Aksaray neighborhood is the
nexus for the suitcase trade between Turkey and Armenia. Every
Wednesday, 15 buses go to Armenia one after another. Many Armenians
make their living relying on the trade, but those who can’t afford the
$50-$70 return journey risk overstaying their visas and becoming an
`undocumented worker’
In the back alleys of Istanbul’s Aksaray district, the Emniyet Bus
Station looks as if it has long been abandoned. A more careful glance,
however, uncovers notices in Armenian and Georgian plastered on
windows of bus company offices.
The station was mainly used by Russian and Romanian passengers in the
early 1990s for shuttle trade, but lately it has been serving those
from Armenia and Georgia who pack their suitcases with items to sell
at street markets back home.
Every week, scores of buses depart for Turkey’s eastern neighbors,
charging passengers between $50 and $70 depending on the final
destination. Wednesdays are especially brisk with the majority of
buses heading to Armenia via Georgia departing that day.
The Istanbul-Yerevan journey would take 22 hours, but because the
Turkish-Armenian border remains closed, the actual travel time is 36
hours. For those who can afford the luxury of air travel, there are
constraints; flights depart from Istanbul’s Atatürk International
Airport bound for Yerevan twice a week.
Traders in Laleli, a neighborhood in Aksaray famous as a shuttle trade
hub, insisted on speaking on the condition of anonymity out of a
growing anxiety that the trade is coming to a halt.
On one of the ordinary days at the terminal last week, passengers
reached the bus station early in the morning, followed by porters
carrying heavy luggage. Suitcases and cardboard boxes were weighed;
bargains were made and the cargo was loaded up. Passengers making the
journey have a luggage allowance of 200 kilograms.
Falling into the `undocumented’ gap
One passenger, speaking to Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on
condition of anonymity, said Armenians generally come to the city with
between $2,000 and $5,000. Those who come with less money typically
cannot find enough money to return to Armenia when their visas expire
and consequently become one of the `undocumented workers’ who were
threatened with deportation by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an
during comments made last week.
A.H., a 44-year-old nurse identified only by her initials, worked in
hospitals for many years in Armenia. "I have worked in Turkey doing
domestic work for others and have saved money,’ she said. `Now it’s
time take off.’
H.B. is from Gyumri, an Armenian city not far from the eastern Turkish
province of Kars, and said he makes his living off suitcase trade.
`Why are the politicians plaguing poor people like us? Why are the
borders closed? Why are we not allowed to pass freely? It sometimes
feels like I have all the weight of the world on my shoulders.’
Kohar Gasparian, 50, said he runs a luxurious boutique in Yerevan. `I
come because textiles are cheap and of good quality here,’ he told the
Daily News.
Almost all spoke fluent Turkish and many of the passengers, bus
company employees and drivers know each another.
Bus driver Mehmet KapıcıoÄ?lu said he has been driving passengers to
Armenia for 14 years. `The journey takes 36 hours, sometimes 38 hours.
Some passengers cover the distance without food and water because they
have no money. Seeing that is really painful.’
Ali, declining to give his surname, said he had been working at the
bus station for 12 years and is fluent in Armenian. `I’ve learned it
by talking with passengers as the years go by,’ he said, adding that
Armenians have been crucial in reviving Laleli’s otherwise-fading
shuttle trade.
`From the mid-1990s until last year, there used to be 30 bus trips per
day from Turkey to Armenia. This year, the number decreased by half,’
he said.