Shopkeepers in the city are letting their neighbors buy goods on the basis of trust, Erdem Erişgen, the chief of a local merchants’ association in Edirne, told the Anatolia news agency.
Turkish shop owners in border towns near crisis-hit Greece are allowing their neighbors to buy goods on credit, confident that their long-standing customers will pay back their debts.
Merchants in the northwestern Turkish border city of Edirne, for example, are keeping accounts open and sometimes using promissory notes to help their debt-ridden Greek neighbors.
Greek visitors, mostly from cities near the border, generally enter through the Pazarkule border gate to shop for baklava, bread, dough and clothes in Edirne, where they also frequent the city’s Friday bazaar.
Shopkeepers in the city are letting their neighbors buy goods on the basis of trust, Erdem Erişgen, the chief of a local merchants’ association in Edirne, told the Anatolia news agency.
“Greeks are honest people. We sometimes give them goods without even taking a promissory note,” Erişgen said. “We know Ahmet Ağa from the village here, but we know Hristo on the other side as well.”
“Our accounts are open to them,” Eriþgen added, referring to the Greek neighbors. “They bring in the money on time. I hope the Turkish people understand the value of us small merchants, too – people could never do this in a shopping center.”
One of the city’s small businessmen, Kenan Yakar, agreed that Greek people always honor their debts. “Our Greek friends are going through tough times,” he said. “In the past, they were well off. When they cannot pay in full, we write the debt in our books. They are our neighbors and we have to look after them.”
“Before the crisis, they [Greeks] were spending away. Now they are bargaining with us,” said Ersun Solmaz, another tradesman. “I hope their economy recovers soon – that will be good for us, too.”
Note ; I hope our neighbour will recover from the terrible crisis soon.
