From the moment you set foot into your new home, your Kapıcı
(person responsible for cleaning of a building and daily
shopping) and his entire family will become your most trusted
helpers. Besides your Kapıcı, the salesmen like Bakkal
(small grocery), Manav (green grocer) and Kasap
(butcher and poultry)scattered around your district are eager to
help solve your daily problems and are there to meet your daily
needs. Don’t be surprised if they consider you a family member!
Once better acquainted, a basket or shopping bag you happen to
hang on your door knob will begin to mean fresh bread, milk, or
anything else you require daily. Your kapıcı will be the
one to pick-up your trash and dispose of it, however trash pick-up
times vary from building-to-building. Body language is really
all you need to communicate with this fellow or his family.
Your kapıcı's wife, often for a reasonable fee, can take
care of any housecleaning you may need and if she doesn't seem
to have any available days, you can be certain that she will
definitely have a relative who does!
In Turkey, the person dealing with all the troubles of the
apartment is called the Yönetici. He/she is selected
among the inhabitants of the apartment at an annual meeting and
he/she holds this post for a one-year period. In most apartments
the inhabitants take turns holding this post. In some big
apartments or sites this job is carried out by professional
teams for an agreed payment.
The duties of the yönetici include: keeping a record of
expenses, collecting rent, the general care of the garden and
organizing the duties of kapıcı. If the heating of the
apartment is with natural gas, the yönetici collects the
amounts of the invoice against receipt. In some apartments this
money is collected as cash (usually with the assistance of the
kapıcı) or the inhabitants directly deposit the amount
into a specified bank account.
The name and the flat number of the yönetici, together
with necessary information are usually written at entrance of
the apartment buildings.
The official representative of the state in each district is
called Muhtar. He/she is elected by the votes of the
district inhabitants during general elections. Generally the
candidates are retired individuals who have lived in the
district for a long period of time.
The responsibilities of the Muhtar include: listing the
addresses of all the people living in the district and preparing
ikamet senedi (authentication of address) and nüfus
sureti (authentication of birth record) two fixed
certificates that are requested in almost every official
employment.
When you move to a new apartment the first thing you should do
is learn the address of the muhtar either from your kapıcı
or yönetici. Then drop by the muhtar's office to
get a registration form, which needs to be filled out and
approved by your yönetici then returned to the muhtar. It is
also necessary to inform the old muhtar when you leave a
district and before registering in your new district.
The Muhtar is the most important authority in a village.
If you live in a small village you can be certain that the
muhtar can be instrumental in helping you adjust to your new
environment.
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