Turkey's soaring costs create a 'lost generation' of children forced to help their families survive

ISTANBUL In a dark studio in one of Istanbul's poorest neighborhoods, 11-year-old Atakan Sahin huddles on a worn couch with his siblings to watch TV while their mother stirs a pot of pasta.

The simple meal is all the family of six could hope for most evenings. Atakan, his two younger brothers and his 5-year-old sister are among the third of Turkish children living in poverty.

Look at the condition of my children, said Rukiye Sahin, 28. I have four children. They don't eat chicken or meat. I send them to school with torn shoes.

Constantly high inflationtriggered by currency depreciation and unconventional economic policies which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursued but later abandoned, has left many families struggling to pay for food and housing. Experts say this is creating a lost generation of children who have been forced to grow up too fast to help their families survive.

According to a 2023 joint report by UNICEF and the Turkish Statistical Institute, around 7 million of Turkey's approximately 22.2 million children live in poverty.

This deprivation is in evidence in neighborhoods such as Tarlabasi in Istanbul, where the Sahin family lives within walking distance of Istiklal Avenue, a tourist hotspot bristling with well-lit shops and expensive restaurants.

Meanwhile, the Sahins eat while sitting on the floor of their bedroom, on the same floor where Rukiye and her husband sleep while their children occupy the bedroom sofas. In the freezing night of early December, a stove burns scraps of wood to keep them warm. They sometimes fall asleep to the sound of rats scurrying around the building.

Atakan spends his days helping his father dig through dumpsters for recyclable materials to earn a meager income for the family.

Istanbul's poor children also earn money for their families by selling small items such as pens, tissues or bracelets in bars and cafes in the city's entertainment districts, often working late into the night.

I can't go to school because I don't have money, he said. We have nothing. Can you tell me how I can get there? On sunny days, when I don't go to school, I collect plastic and other things with my father. We sell everything we find.

The money allows him to buy basic foodstuffs and pay for the schooling of his brothers and sisters. On the days that Atakan is able to attend, he is ill-equipped to succeed: He lacks proper shoes, a coat, and textbooks for the English class he loves.

The Sahins are struggling to scrape together the money to cover rent, utilities and other basic expenses as Turkey's cost-of-living crisis continues to rage. Inflation rose to 47% in November, having peaked at 85% end of 2022. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages were 5.1% higher in November than the previous month.

Under these circumstances, a generation of children rarely grows up enjoying a full meal of fresh meat or vegetables.

Rukiye and her husband receive 6,000 lira ($173) a month in government welfare to help cover school fees, but they pay the same amount in rent for their house.

My son says: Mom, it's raining, my shoes are wet. But what can I do? » said Rukiye. The state doesn't help me. I am alone in this room with my children. Who do I have besides them?

The image of children scavenging through trash to provide for their families is far from the image Turkey presents to the world: that of an influential global power with a dynamic economy favorable to foreign investment.

Erdogan is proud of the social programs his party has implemented since coming to power more than 20 years ago, boasting that the good old days of bans, oppression, deprivation and poverty are completely behind We.

Speaking at the G20 summit in November, Erdogan described Turkey's social security system as one of the most comprehensive and inclusive in the world. Our goal is to ensure that not a single poor person remains. We will continue our work until we achieve this, he said.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, charged with implementing austerity and controlling inflation, said the monthly minimum wage of 17,000 lira ($488) was not low. But he is committed to raising it as quickly as possible.

Although the government allocates billions of lira to struggling households, inflation, which most people agree is far higher than the official figure, is eating away at any help the state can provide.

In neighborhoods like Tarlabasi, rents have increased fivefold in recent years as gentrification in central Istanbul puts pressure on the housing market for low-income families.

Experts say welfare payments are not enough for the millions of people who rely on them, forcing many parents to make impossible choices: Should they pay the rent or buy clothes for their children? Should they send them to school or keep them at home to earn a few extra lira?

Volunteers try to break the cycle of deprivation.

Mehmet Yeralan, a 53-year-old former restaurateur, brings the poor of Tarlabasi basic necessities they cannot afford, including coats, notebooks and the occasional bag of rice.

Our children don't deserve this, he said, warming himself next to a burning barrel of scrap wood in the street. Families are in very difficult situations. They cannot buy food for their children or send them to school. Children are on the streets selling handkerchiefs to support their families. We are witnessing deep poverty here.

Hacer Foggo, a poverty researcher and activist, said Turkey is raising a lost generation who are forced to drop out of school to work or are funneled into vocational programs where they work four days and study one day a week, receiving a small fraction of income. minimum wage.

Look at the situation of the children, she said. Two million of them live in extreme poverty. Child labor has become very common. Families choose these education-work programs because the children bring in some income. It's not real education, just cheaper labor.

Foggo cites research showing how early childhood education can help break cycles of poverty. Without it, children remain stuck, physically and educationally behind, and condemned to lifelong disadvantages.

UNICEF placed Turkey 38th out of 39 European Union or Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in terms of child poverty between 2019 and 2021, with a child poverty rate of 34%. .

The tragic consequences of this misery sometimes burst onto the public stage.

The deaths of five children in a fire in the western city of Izmir in November occurred while their mother was collecting debris to sell. The image of their sobbing father, who was escorted from prison in handcuffs to attend his children's funeral, sparked widespread outrage at the despair and helplessness faced by poor families.

This is a situation that Rukiye completely understands.

Sometimes I go to bed hungry, sometimes I go to bed full, she says. We cannot move forward, we are always falling behind. … When you don't have money in your hands, you're always behind.

His eldest son, for his part, clings to his childhood dreams. I want my own room, Atakan said. I want to go to school regularly. I want everything to be in order. I would like to become a footballer one day, to support my family.

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Badendieck reported from Istanbul. Andrew Wilks in Istanbul and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed.