The poverty line in Turkey

"The Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) sparked an outcry earlier this week by recommending to civil servants' unions that TurkStat's food poverty line of YTL255 (£116) a month be adopted instead of the higher figure proposed by the unions during their negotiations on salary hikes and benefits." Ercan Han of the Turkish Public Workers' Labour Union said that TurkStat has been using the method adopted by the World Bank, World Health Organisation and the United Nations which use the food poverty line as a tool in determining starvation criteria for the world. Han, "this calculation does not take into account non-food expenditures such as housing and to satisfy basic needs."

"This food poverty line, the minimum amount of money required to buy the necessary food for subsistence, was declared by Turkstat to be YTL255 a month for a family of four. The food poverty line favoured by unions is determined according to the minimum financial income recognised by society as needed by a person for food and other basic needs including housing and transportation to and from work. The Public Workers' Labour Union calculate this to be YTL1,012 (£460) to include housing, heating, lighting, clean drinking water, transportation and communication." "YTL255 means YTL2 or 3 (90p-£1.36) per person a day," said the president of the Civil Servants' Union. "If they –TurkStat – insist on this amount we will ask them to go out and try to survive on this little amount of money. Maybe they could empathize then."

In the same week in a Turkish language local paper are some special offers for Ramadan from a cut-price supermarket: Special pack: 1kg each of rice, bulgur, dried beans, lentils, flour; 500g of tomato puree, macaroni, tea; 750g of sugar and salt and 1ltr of cooking oil. YTL20 (£9.00)

What will YTL255 purchase? In a 30-day month it equates to YTL60 a week. One special Ramadan pack (absolute basic needs for a week) YTL20.

Average weekly bread consumption for four people YTL40. This leaves nothing at all for dairy products, eggs, olives, fresh vegetables, fruit, /meat!/ and (if you live in Izmir) water at about YTL4 for 40 litres. Tap water costs about YTL 12.5 per cubic metre and is billed bi-monthly. Also not factored in are electricity, cooking gas, winter heating, housing costs such as rent and council tax, laundry and household cleaning requirements, personal care items, clothes and transport. Current fuel prices are; diesel £1.30, 95 octane petrol £1.50.

[Information taken from a national, daily, English language, Turkish newspaper, "Today's Zaman" (Today's Times), sister paper of the widely read Turkish language "Zaman" (Times), August 28th 2008.]

J.S.