After the 2011 earthquake in Van, hundreds of TOKI houses were built in Bostaniçi, Sıhke and Edremit and the earthquake victims were obliged to move to these houses.

TOKI houses given to earthquake victims are very small and are given beyond payment of a 20-year mortgage. Earthquake victims have been forced to live into small flats and could not meet their many needs.

Earthquake victims turned to traditional tandoori houses in order to meet their bread needs in buildings established in remote parts of the city where there are neither bakeries nor markets. A family started to meet their needs by making bread every day in the common tandoor ovens built across TOKI estates.

However, Van Metropolitan Municipality, now run by a state-appointed trustee, decided to destroy these places.

Machineries were sent to Bostaniçi on Sunday and demolished all the tandoor despite the people reaction. This decision meant earthquake victims have now serious problems in meeting their daily need for bread.

The tandoor is usually a cylindrical clay or metal oven used in cooking and baking.