‘We don’t deserve this’: Inflation hits Turkish people hard
Market-stand owner Kadriye Dogru makes do with stale, sesame-covered bagels, known as simit, for lunch these days. The widowed mother of two says she goes without lunch so she can put food on the table for her family later in the day.
The money that the 59-year-old earns by selling sweatpants and other garments at Istanbul’s Ortakcilar market no longer lasts, and she is struggling to buy food, let alone anything else.
“I had never experienced such a deplorable life. I go to sleep, I wake up and the prices have gone up. I bought a 5-liter can of (cooking) oil, it was 40 lira. I went back, it was 80 lira,” she said. “We don’t deserve this as a nation.”
Many people in Turkey are facing increased hardship as prices of food and other goods have soared. While rising consumer prices are affecting countries worldwide as they bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, economists say Turkey’s eye-popping inflation has been exacerbated by economic mismanagement, concerns over the country’s financial reserves and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s push to cut interest rates.
He claims lower borrowing costs will boost growth, though economists say just the opposite is the way to tame soaring prices. The Turkish lira has been tumbling to record lows against the U.S. dollar as the country’s central bank has slashed interest rates, fueling concerns about its independence.
Caught in the middle are everyday Turks trying to make ends meet.
“Everything is so expensive, I cannot buy anything,” Suheyla Poyraz said as she browsed food stalls at the Ortakcilar market in Istanbul’s Eyupsultan district.
The 57-year-old homemaker has voted for Erdogan’s party and called on the government to act to end inflation.
“If you are the government and if we are voting for you to put things right, why aren’t you intervening? Why aren’t you stopping the rising prices?” Poyraz said.
High inflation has been hurting the popularity ratings of Erdogan, whose early years in power were marked by a strong economy. Opinion surveys indicate that an alliance of opposition parties that have formed a bloc against Erdogan’s ruling party and its nationalist allies are fast narrowing the gap.
The Turkish government says inflation rose nearly 20% in October compared with a year earlier, but the independent Inflation Research Group, made up of academics and former government officials, put it close to a stunning 50%.