IWhenever I complain about how expensive life is in Turkey, some readers in Germany get accusatory reactions like this: “That’s all well and good, but prices are rising here too.” They’re not wrong, of course, during my visits to Berlin I also notice that the prices don’t stay the same. But believe me, this is no comparison to what we are experiencing in Turkey.
To the Turkish version of the column
Yazının Türkçe orijinalini okumak için tıklayın
A few days ago the current inflation rate was announced in both countries. Inflation in Germany is 6.1 percent compared to the same month last year. For us it is 9.09 percent compared to the previous month. Both countries have around 85 million inhabitants. In your case, around eight percent receive citizen’s benefit or basic security, while in our case 22 percent live on state social assistance. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), meat consumption per capita in countries like yours is over 70 kilos per year. In Turkey, known for its kebab and shish kebab, it is less than 10 kilos.
Let’s assume that we somehow managed to get full. Then there is the problem of health care. Our doctors are now migrating to countries like Germany for a better future. We have to wait months for a specialist examination in a state hospital. An appointment for a simple procedure cannot be made before a year. And because of the sharp rise in foreign exchange rates, most imported medicines can no longer be found in pharmacies. Many now share their medication with others in need.
Things are not looking any better in education. Around 570,000 children leave education for economic reasons. Almost 19 percent of minors have gainful employment. Increasingly, families prefer to send their children to night schools so that they can work during the day and contribute to the household income.
What do you do in the face of such a situation? You create imaginary threats to make you forget about the current problems. You practice shadow boxing, swinging your fists at nonexistent opponents. In recent years, the Erdoğan regime has been particularly fond of raising the threat of homosexuality. Just like Putin and Orbán. For a few years now, a religious-themed campaign has been running under the pretext of protecting the family. Even the smallest action by the LGBTIQ+ community results in police violence and arrests. In preschools it is forbidden to draw pictures of the rainbow. This paranoia, fueled by the government, reached its peak before the elections last May. For example, in order to discredit the opposition presidential candidate, the former long-time AKP mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, declared: “If you want your son to marry his friend, then give your vote to Kılıçdaroğlu.”
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