As of: March 26, 2024, 4:53 p.m
By: Erkan Pehlivan
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Poverty in Turkey is increasing.
So far, President Erdogan has been unable to do anything about it.
Now things should get better with “God’s permission”.
Ankara – Local elections will take place in Turkey on Sunday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ministers are in the middle of the election campaign.
In his speeches, Erdogan talks about a strong economy and that everything will get much better.
“Our country will be among the ten strongest economic powers in the world,” Erdogan promised in a speech on March 26 in Aksaray.
So far the economy has grown three times during his time and will grow twice in the coming period.
The reality, however, looks different.
From month to month, people in Turkey are becoming more and more impoverished.
Official inflation is over 67 percent and the Turkish lira (TL) remains in free fall.
One US dollar now costs over 32 TL.
A year ago the price was 19 lira and five years ago it was even 5.63.
This makes everything in the country more expensive.
The so-called hunger threshold and poverty threshold must therefore be corrected practically every month.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now wants to combat the economic problems with “God’s permission”.
© IMAGO/Tolga Ildun
Minimum wage in Turkey is not enough to buy food for a family
Low-income earners in particular have it particularly difficult.
Anyone who receives the minimum wage of 17,000 TL (487 euros) cannot now even feed a family of four in a balanced manner, according to the Confederation of Public Service Unions, “Birlesik Kamu-is Konfederasyonu”.
“The hunger limit, which is rising rapidly in Turkey due to the uninterrupted increase in food prices for four years, while it is generally falling worldwide, exceeded the 20,000 lira limit for the first time in March at 20,098 TL.
At the same time, the poverty threshold rose to 57,280 Turkish lira.
In March alone, the hunger threshold rose by 5.9 percent and the poverty threshold by 11 percent,” said the trade union association.
Many pensions in Turkey are even below the minimum wage
The so-called hunger threshold describes the minimum expenditure on food for a family of four if they want to eat a balanced diet.
The poverty threshold, on the other hand, describes the minimum expenditure for a family of four.
In addition to food costs, this also includes rent, energy and transport costs.
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Pensioners are particularly affected by poverty because many pensions are even below the minimum wage.
The trade union association DISK has calculated the situation of Turkish pensioners.
Accordingly, the average pension in Turkey is one sixth of the pensions in Central European countries.
While the average pension in Turkey was around 22 percent above the minimum wage in 2002, it was around 26 percent below in 2023.
Erdogan wants to fight inflation with “God’s permission”.
In his speech, Erdogan spoke of a strong economy that should become even stronger.
However, he also admitted that global inflation had also hit Turkey.
That's why the pensioners were paid a one-off amount of 5,000 TL (143 euros).
Erdogan admitted that this doesn't do much for the pensioners either.
“No matter what we give in an inflationary environment, it disappears like a bottomless pit.”
But with God's permission he will soon be able to control inflation.
His economic program has so far not borne fruit.
Hafize Gaye Erkan, head of the central bank, has since been dismissed.
The discontent can be clearly felt on the streets of Türkiye.
This could become a problem for Erdogan and his AKP in the upcoming local elections on Sunday.
(erpe)