Although state pensions and social aid have been significantly strengthened by the government to fight the current annual inflation as high as 83.45 percent, retirees living on their pensions still cannot bear the high cost of living…. Reports Burak Akinci from Ankara
Turkey’s economic slump has hit hard the country’s senior citizens whose incomes are being eroded by the runaway inflation.
Although state pensions and social aid have been significantly strengthened by the government to fight the current annual inflation as high as 83.45 percent, retirees living on their pensions still cannot bear the high cost of living.
“Because of high prices we cannot purchase anything. We are devoid of everything,” Sinan Tas, an 80-year-old pensioner in the capital Ankara, told Xinhua.
The aged woman lives alone in a “gecekondu,” the Turkish word for a slum house built without a proper permit, which mushroomed in big cities in the 1970s during migration waves from rural areas to cities. She is now the sole occupant of the house, where she has lived for free for 50 years thanks to the charity of the house owner.
Tas said her monthly pension of 3,800 liras (205 U.S. dollars) can hardly cover her expenses.
“It is very hard for us to get by. Go and look in my refrigerator, there is nothing inside,” she lamented. Her friend and neighbor, 68-year-old Melek Polat, echoed the grievances.
“We are going through a very difficult period. The price of everything went up and price hikes are continuing unabated,” she said.
“We stopped buying meat or dairy products. For other essential goods we are constantly on the lookout for bargains,” Polat added.
Over the past several years, Türkiye has been suffering from a deteriorating economy, with high inflation and a weakening currency.
About 12 percent of the elderly aged over 65 in the country are still working in order to make ends meet, according to figures released in early 2022 by the Turkish Statistical Institute. The retirement age is 60 for men and 58 for women in Türkiye.
In July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government hiked state pensions by more than 42 percent to address the growing concerns of senior citizens.
The country’s 13.7 million pensioners out of the entire 84.5 million population are key to winning the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections planned for June 2023, according to analysts.
Erdogan, who has not lost an election since taking power in 2002 and boasts strong popular support despite economic woes, has promised a fresh and “notable” rise in state pensions in January 2023. However, with a looming winter gas crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, heating costs also pose a serious problem.
“Heating has also become very expensive. It looks like this winter we will be tucked under blankets because we cannot afford the bills,” Polat said.
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