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In the last year, meat consumption in Turkey has fallen by 30% and pasta sales have increased by 25%. The Turks did not become vegetarians. They just don’t have money. However, Erdogan is silent on the matter.
At the end of 2019, Turkey was shocked by a series of family suicides with a similar motive: poverty. Two families from Istanbul had been poisoned; One could not pay for electricity for months and the other for rent. Members of a third family from Antalya also chose to end their lives on their own, as they had high debts and were affected by unemployment.
The fact is that the economic crisis and the devaluation of the Turkish lira have emptied the wallets of Turkish citizens. Unemployment and large debts of private households in the country are a widespread problem. All this has created an atmosphere of despair, from which many see no other way out than to commit suicide, n-TV said in November last year.
Turkish media is silent on poverty
However, the government has responded strongly to the human tragedies caused by poverty. And the Turkish media, which is largely run by the presidential palace, is silent on what is happening. Apart from a few smaller newspapers and three or four websites, people in Turkey do not have a reliable information channel, Bulent Mumay writes in an analysis for the Frankfurter Agemaine Zeitung (FAC) and emphasizes the role of Deutsche Welle in this context. The author cites a post in German social and legal media, which reveals the enormous population problems caused by the economic crisis. It also says, for example, that in the first eight months of 2020 alone, property seizures were announced against nearly 600,000 people in Turkey, because people were unable to pay their debts.
FAC talks about a 74-year-old pensioner with 40 years of work experience. She lives alone and is in debt because the pension of 245 euros is not enough for all expenses. “I covered my debts with new loans until the bank announced that it would confiscate my property. I can’t connect the two ends, and some days I have nothing to eat. Banks keep calling me, I don’t answer the phone anymore. I’m completely desperate.” He says. Your case is no exception.
However, the Erdogan government reacted with propaganda campaigns in which it tried to call black and white, writes FAC. The truth, however, is difficult to hide. The population is exposed to the blows of the economic crisis.
Economists have estimated that inflation in Turkey is four times higher than what the government announces. People receiving the Turkish minimum wage could buy 2,324 loaves of bread at the beginning of the year, and now only 1,550. The situation is so tragic that even the Nationalist Action Party, a coalition ally in Erdogan’s government, has launched a campaign. “Bread for all”. In the stands of the great squares they began to distribute free bread to those who could not afford it. Erdogan did not like the campaign at all, so he told the television cameras: “Is there anyone in Turkey today who cannot bring bread to his family? Do you believe those rumors? We are among the countries of the world. “. where you live better. “
Due to poverty: 1,380 suicides in five years
However, the people in Turkey have serious shortcomings. And it’s not just about not being able to buy bread. The FAC also published the following data: “In Turkey, meat consumption has fallen by 30% in the last year, and sales of pasta, one of the cheapest food products, has increased by 25%. According to a university study , 38% Turkish households do not have enough money for food and 70% of citizens barely make ends meet. ” The publication also claims that in the past five years, despair due to poverty has driven 1,380 people to suicide in Turkey.
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