Turks earning the minimum wage cannot afford their rents, and have difficulty paying utility bills. Many people cannot even afford to buy food, while Erdogan's government has chosen to spend its resources on aggressive wars and cooperation with terrorist groups and regimes in the region such as Hamas, Islamic State (ISIS), the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
"In 2012, the Turkish government reportedly donated $300 million to Hamas as the group set up shop in Turkey. A Turkish nongovernmental organization with ties to the government, the Foundation for Human Rights (IHH) [which also organized the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla], has transferred cash payments to its branch in the Gaza Strip since 2010. Hamas uses these payments to fund terrorism... The court explicitly ruled that the Turkish bank Kuveyt Turk Bank 'helped finance the Hamas.'" — Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, November 29, 2023.
Meanwhile, according to a 2023 report, a staggering 98% of the population in Turkey is struggling to meet their basic needs, with 83.75 million people unable to achieve the minimum income required for a decent standard of living.
Erdogan's government nevertheless flows its resources to almost every terrorist group in the region to pursue Muslim Brotherhood-style Islamist ideological and territorial goals, impose sharia law, to harm or destroy "infidel" nations, and to establish its Islamist dominance throughout the world.
Any future financial cooperation between the West and Turkey should depend on the Turkish government's human rights record towards the Turkish people and requiring that Turkey end its relationships with all these terrorist groups and regimes that have cost the lives of thousands of innocent people in the region.
Turks earning the minimum wage cannot afford their rents, and have difficulty paying utility bills. Many people cannot even afford to buy food, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has chosen to spend its resources on aggressive wars and cooperation with terrorist groups and regimes in the region such as Hamas, Islamic State, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Since 2002, Turkey has been ruled by the Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), a movement that seeks to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate based on Islamic sharia law.
For 22 years, Erdogan's policies have not only impoverished Turkey's people by ruining the country's economy, but also have brought wars, violence, and bloodshed to the wider region.
Most recently, on April 20, as a sign of his utmost support for Hamas terror group, Erdogan received Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Political Bureau, at the Dolmabahçe Presidential Palace in Istanbul.
The first signs of a possible nationwide defeat of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) became visible, however, on March 31.
The AKP received its biggest electoral blow in nationwide municipal and local elections that reasserted the opposition as a political force and reinforced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) as the president's chief rival. Erdogan's AKP lost in every major city across Turkey.
The main reason seems to be the decline of the economy. As the Turkish lira continues to plummet, and crushing unemployment and inflation skyrocket, more people are struggling to cope with an immense decrease in purchasing power.
"Turkey's economy is in tatters," reported Euronews in 2022.
"Runaway inflation and a collapsing lira have pushed millions of Turks to the brink of financial ruin and slammed factories, farmers and retailers across the country.
"More than two-thirds of people in Turkey are struggling to pay for food and cover their rent, according to a survey by Yöneylem Social Research Centre, fuelling a surge in mental illness and debt."
Nearly two years after that assessment, the economic situation today is even worse. Inflation, in 2024, has soared to almost 70%, according to official data.
Turkey's central bank, citing the continuing need to counter inflation, raised its key interest rate to 50%. The Turkish lira has weakened even further, to a new record of 30 liras to the US dollar, with forecasts that it will reach 40 liras to the dollar by the end of this year.
Turks earning the minimum wage cannot afford their rents, and have difficulty paying utility bills. Many people cannot even afford to buy food, while Erdogan's government has chosen to spend its resources on aggressive wars and cooperation with terrorist groups and regimes in the region such as Hamas, Islamic State (ISIS), the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Below is a brief list of the terror groups and regimes that Erdogan's government enabled in pursuit of pro-jihad ideological and territorial gains.
For the full ten page article, please click here or click on the link below for the pdf file:
Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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