Members of the Consumer Protection Association (TÜKODER) came together in Bakırköy Freedom Square the other day and made a press statement regarding the livelihood of the citizen whose back was bent during the economic crisis. A large number of citizens participated in the press release on the bad course of the economy. In the statement, which stated that the amount of inflation felt in the kitchen was over 250 percent, the economic stalemate and desperation experienced by millions of minimum wage earners were expressed.
“MINIMUM WAGE EARNERS COMPELLED TO HUNGER”
In the press release made by the Consumer Protection Association, “We can't get along; The inflation felt in the kitchen exceeded 250 percent. The minimum wage is 5,500 TL. According to Türk-İş Confederation data, the hunger limit is 7,245 TL. Minimum wage earner was sentenced to starvation. The minimum wage does not even cover our food expenditure, the refrigerators are empty. The amount of expenditure we need to make in order to live humanely is 23,600 TL. We cannot be fed, our purchasing power has decreased, we need healthy, economical and nutritious food. We cannot shelter, rents have skyrocketed, the minimum wage has become enough for rent only. Our young people cannot enroll in the schools they have won due to housing and nutrition problems, the living cost of a single person is 9,470 TL.”
“AUTHORITIES ARE MOCKING WITH OUR MIND”
In the continuation of the statement, “How can a family with a minimum wage they earn, enroll their children when they can't even afford to buy bread for the house, when young people can't even find a way to go to the schools? The housing problem experienced by our youth could be solved by building a sufficient number of dormitories, not by building residences to sell to foreigners. On the one hand, there are the wealthy people who fill their pockets and safes with the resources of this country, albeit a little, with oil and honey, and on the other hand, the poor citizen who is trying to be sentenced to charity that bears all the burden of this country. Authorities are making fun of our minds. By saying that we do not make the hikes, the reason for all this is attributed to fluctuations and high inflation in foreign currency. Is this country ruled by aliens, is it the aliens who are making the electricity, fuel and natural gas hikes that fuel inflation and price increases? Who made the electricity price hikes of up to 200 percent in one night?” the statement said.
“PRODUCE PROJECTS WITH BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND”
Underlining that the patience of the citizens, whose purchasing power has decreased, has reached the point of exhaustion, the statement said, “The 25 percent limitation, which was introduced to prevent the high rent increase but could not be implemented in reality, has not been a solution. Courthouses began to fill up with rental cases. If limitation is a solution, then limit electricity, natural gas and fuel oil as well. You set their prices. In the cold black winter, how will the people who can't even afford to buy a blanket warm up, and under what conditions will our children study? It is not the projects that seem to solve the housing problem that you offer as a cake project for those who can't buy bread and that create perception, but produce projects that will solve the shelter problem of the consumer living below the hunger limit, from rent support to housing acquisition.”
“POLICIES SHOULD BE DEVELOPED TO ENCOURAGE THE FARMERS”
In the statement, which stated that inflation should be stopped as soon as possible for the citizens to live a healthy life, “Economic policies should be implemented not to make someone rich, but to eliminate hunger and poverty. In order to remove the problem of poverty and hunger from the agenda of the country, the policies that cause this should be abandoned. In order to stop inflation, measures should be taken into account that give importance to the interests of the people. The build-operate-transfer models that transfer the country's resources to a handful of companies should be abandoned, and the agreements of companies that fill their coffers with every exchange rate increase should be terminated.”