‘30 million people below starvation line in Turkey’

* Photo: Deep Poverty Network / Özge Ergin

Click to read the article in Turkish

Prepared by the Economy Commission of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the "Poverty Report" of the party was shared with the public with a press conference at the Parliament today (December 25).

While the conference was attended by HDP Diyarbakır MP and HDP Vice Co-Chair responsible for the commission Garo Paylan and HDP MPs Erol Katırcıoğlu, Necdet İpekyüz and Serpil Kemalbay, the commission's statement has indicated that 60 percent of the people in the workforce earn minimum wage or less in a month in Turkey.

"At least 20 million people live under the starvation line," the commission has stated and added, "Taken together with the people who have lost their jobs, 30 million people live under the starvation line."

Emphasis on regional poverty

The main findings from the report are briefly as follows:

Regional poverty: Unemployment, the chronic problem of Turkey, has seen a record-high increase, real wages are getting lower and lower. Purchasing power has decreased, even the most basic needs cannot be met.

According to the insured employment statistics in Turkey (August 2020), 8 million 37 thousand people are so poor that they cannot pay their own General Health Insurance premiums. The meaning of these figures is that the income of these people is not even one third of the minimum wage and they have no immovable property registered in their names.

Shop owners: After 2015, at least 50 thousand shop owners close down their businesses. According to the statistics of the Turkish Tradesmen and Artisans Confederation (TESK) for November 2020, there are 1 million 984 thousand 257 shop owners in Turkey. There are 303 thousand 628 shop owners in 23 provinces in [Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern] region and this figure accounts for only 15.3 percent of the total number.

The lowest ratio of shop owners to population is in Şırnak with 1.01 percent. Only these figures show the limitedness of the economic activity in the region where the production infrastructure is insufficient. The cities in the region usually rank last in the provincial life indexes. There is no Kurdish-majority city in the list of the most developed 30 cities of the country.

Women's poverty: Poverty and precarity are imposed on women. Domestic work, not seen or paid, paves the way for women's economic and social dependence, forced social insurance through their spouses or fathers and their status being dependent on family and on men through family.

In fact, the rates of retirement can also be read as an indication which proves this: While only 17 percent of women retire, this rate is 81 percent among men. The gap between these rates proves that women are subjected to an established policy of 'social precarity'.

Pensioners: Pensioners are having difficulties in making ends meet. While 37 percent of retired people were working or looking for work in 2002, this rate has increased to 47 percent in 2020. As for the income injustice among pensioners, it is higher in Turkey than all EU countries.

The wages of 60 percent of pensioners and rights holders are below the minimum wage. Giving pensioners 1,500 TRY (~200 USD) a month is not something to be proud of by any government; on the contrary, it is a great source of shame in an environment where the inflation rate is in double digits and the inflation rate of food products is over 20 percent.

Recommendations

Against this backdrop, HDP has also listed its recommendations to curb abject poverty in Turkey: A universal basic income must be provided; the net minimum wage must be 4,000 TRY and exempt from taxes; electricity, water and natural gas must be free based on needs; arrangements must be made to increase youth and women's employment. (EMK/SD)