In the face of economic crisis, people resort to selling their clothes in Turkey

In the face of the economic crisis, Turkish people are searching for ways to make ends meet. They have even resorted to selling their own clothes to be able to buy food.

Wednesday December 08 2021 10:15 am

A man sells lemonade as people shop in Eminonu district of Istanbul, Turkey, December 6, 2021.

Duvar English

Turkish people are resorting to selling their own clothes to be able to buy food in the face of the current economic crisis, the daily Cumhuriyet reported on Dec. 8.

As the lira continues to plummet, unemployment at unprecedented levels and the prices of goods skyrocket, more and more people are trying to cope with an immense decrease in purchasing power.

In Istanbul's Üsküdar, a street that was once filled with students who sought to buy second-hand items is now full of people trying to sell their stuff.

"I have to sell my jacket to make money," a man tells Cumhuriyet as he visits a shop to negotiate.

Hüseyin Akyüz, a second-hand shop owner, said that the situation is getting direr each day.

"A woman called me home to sell a couch and a bed base a month ago. I saw a child crying, apparently due to hunger. The woman had teary eyes," Akyüz said.

"She said, 'We can settle for 80 liras.' I couldn't bear the situation, I gave her 100 liras and left without getting the furniture," he added.

Another shop owner, Murat Dinç, said that an elderly man sold his TV to be able to pay his grandchild's credit card debt.

"He sold it to me for 900 liras. If he wants to buy a new one, he would have to pay 3,000 liras," Dinç said, adding that most people are buying second-hand products instead of new ones.

"I'm also buying second-hand products. I can't believe the prices when I go shopping," he said.

A shop owner who asked to remain anonymous said that people are finding second-hand products expensive as well.

"We don't want to accept second-hand products because we can't sell them. The purchasing power hit rock bottom. The cost of keeping these products in depots cost us," the shop owner said.

Aziz Koçal, the head of the Customer Protection Association (TÜKODER), said that he expects a social explosion due to poverty.

"We see that people are buying white appliances or furniture with installments and selling them in cash to purchase their basic needs. The people are using this method to stay alive," Koçal told Cumhuriyet.

"Social explosions, shattered families and suicides may follow. The system that forced people to live like this is at fault," he added.