The commercial rivalry between two mobile meatball vendors near Istanbul's Maçka Park has been overshadowed by politics.
Street meatballs are one of the most popular street delicacies in Istanbul. Especially in the vicinity of Beşiktaş, meatball stalls and night meatball shops open on match days and are one of the most frequented places for both football fans and those who live at night.
Of course, these meatball stalls, which have become famous over time, also earn a turnover that would make many famous places jealous. The biggest nightmare of street vendors is having a dispute with the police. In other words, taking the municipality against them.
The incident we will describe is the commercial rivalry between two mobile meatball vendors near Maçka Park, in which a member of the parliament involved an entire party and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in the commercial rivalry.
Allegedly, one of these meatball sellers got unofficial permission from IMM to open his stall by getting a fellow MP involved. While the meatball vendor with a political reference got the permit, hard times began for the other meatball vendor selling in the same area under the same conditions.
The meatball vendor, whose stall was allowed by IBB, started demanding a large sum of money from the other stall owner to allow him to open his stall. If he did not pay, he started threatening that he would get the police officers to shut down his stall by bringing in a relative of a member of parliament.
While the desperate mobile meatball vendor is preparing to take the situation to the judiciary, the term ‘stallist MP’ has started to be used for the MP who does not hesitate to use the name of his party and his relations in IBB for the mobile stall.