There is a hunger atmosphere in the market

Ebru CELIK

Eminönü, one of the historical centers of Istanbul, and Avcılar, where the low-income population is dense… Crowded squares and streets now tell a different story. Due to the economic crisis, fruits are bought by the piece, while fruit juice is bought with difficulty for children. The first sentence on the lips of every citizen we talk to on the street is, “Our money has become worthless”, “We are ashamed to go to the market now.”

∗∗∗

IT'S NOT THE ECONOMY, IT'S THE SYSTEM THAT'S BROKEN

Sitting on a bench in Eminönü Square, Mine Albay asks, “I used to buy meat, vegetables and fruit with 25 liras, can you buy me a bagel now?” Trying to get by on a retirement salary, Albay says that she cannot even go to the market and continues her speech as follows: “We have no cash, we have to rely on credit cards. We want to go to the market but we do not have cash, so we are stuck in the market. Meat and fish have become luxuries, we can barely afford chicken. There is always plain food on the table. We are crushed under inflation and we do not believe the figures of TÜİK. Salary increases are useless because increases take away everything. Not only the economy but also the entire system is broken in this country.”

∗∗∗

WE SHOPPING WITH SHAME

Ramazan K., a shopkeeper who sells belts on a stall in Eminönü, said that he is retired but has to work because he cannot make ends meet with his pension. Ramazan K. said, “How can we make ends meet with 14 thousand liras? Everything keeps going up. If I want to buy the cheese I bought last week this week, it costs at least 5-10, maybe 20 liras more. If you look at the markets, you will see the seriousness of the situation. In the past, we could easily put meat on our table. Now it is not possible. Buying meat by the kilo has become a dream. We are embarrassed to buy half a kilo or less. In the past, our habits were different, 3-5 kilos would be bought. Now it is difficult to buy 200 grams.

∗∗∗

WE CAME TO EAT SIMIT

We asked Gülşah Karayel, who came to Eminönü from Esenyurt to visit, what they did while visiting. Karayel said, “Believe me, we didn’t do anything. We bought ice cream for the child and sat under a tree. 3 bagels and 2 fruit juices cost 200 TL. My friend and I couldn’t even sit in a cafe and have a coffee. We were hesitant to walk around the Spice Bazaar, we preferred to sit under a tree and eat bagels.” Karayel, who said she came here with 500 TL in her pocket, said, “We get by with my husband’s only pensioner. How much budget could I have come with? We came here to eat bagels.”

∗∗∗

DISTORTED, WILD MENTALITY

“TÜİK announced 36 percent inflation but people can’t shop,” said İbrahim Oğullu, who left the restaurant he worked at and sat down on a bench to rest. When I sat down next to him, he said the following: “They say, ‘Fatiha was recited for the soul of the economy’ we don’t know how many times it was recited. My wife and I go to the market, but what can we buy? In the past, we used to go to the market every week with our salary, pay our rent, meet the needs of our children. The things we put on our table have changed with fake inflations. Meat and chicken have disappeared. 85 million people live in this country but millions of them only work to feed 3 people. How is it possible to feed them, we are at the bottom of the abyss. The country has turned into a gang state. We are governed by town politics.”

∗∗∗

FRUIT IS NOW CONSIDERED A LUXURY

The shopkeepers selling fruit at the neighborhood market in Avcılar answer our questions: "An apple is 10 TL. A nectarine is 25 TL. Most of the people who come to this market are retired. I am also retired. You will pay your rent, your bills, spend 14 thousand liras on food and water, and on top of that you will come to the market and buy apples. Retired people do not have such a luxury. Fruit is now a luxury. Retired people do not buy a few for themselves, but to go to their grandchildren. This is what they call inflation." A citizen who buys fish, green beans and cucumbers from the market explains: "Anchovies are 150 TL, beans are 100 TL, and cucumbers are 30 TL. If I want to set up a fish table with a seasonal salad, I will have to leave this market for at least a thousand TL."

∗∗∗

RETIRED PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR A CHEAPER PASTA

Asibe N., a retiree we met while choosing apples, stated that she would eat the one kilo she bought, namely 5 apples, for 5 days and said, “One kilo of apples costs 50 TL and we can barely afford that. Since our priority is to fill our stomachs cheaply, we can barely afford fruits and vegetables. I am retired and I can barely make ends meet with the support of my children.” Asibe N., who said that they could easily buy and eat 5 kilos of fruit 10 years ago, continued her speech as follows: “About 6-7 years ago, I could buy more than anything. Especially in the last 2-3 years, shopping has been quite difficult compared to the past. I even look for the cheapest pasta. I have more than one disease, we think about how we can fill our stomachs cheaply when we need to eat healthy.”

∗∗∗

THEY LEFT THE ELDERLY TO DIE

Zehra Aylin, one of the elderly couple who stopped by the market after coming from the hospital, said that she has cancer and that her doctor told her to eat well: “My doctor told me that I should eat 5 walnuts a day. A kilo of walnuts is 250 liras, and those are the ones with shells. We have difficulty eating meat, chicken, fish and even vegetables. We fill our stomachs with pasta, rice and a potato dish. The state, the government, has practically left us elderly to die. There is nothing much to say.”

∗∗∗

OLIVES AND CHEESE ARE NOT APPROACHED

We spoke to another citizen walking around the market in front of the cheese stand. The citizen said that he came to the market with a thousand TL but could not buy any of the olives or cheese in front of him, and said, “You can't get close to olives and cheese with this money. In fact, we can buy a kilo of olives and a kilo of cheese from this market with a thousand TL.”