STORY: Turks struggle to afford children's school supplies amid rising living cost
DATELINE: Sept. 9, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:28
LOCATION: ISTANBUL, Türkiye
CATEGORY: SOCIETY/EDUCATION

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Istanbul
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Turkish): SEYMANUR ARSLAN, Istanbul resident
3. various of a market in Istanbul and customers
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Turkish): FERRUH BUYUKOGLU, Stationer
5. various of market in Istanbul
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Turkish): NURDAN BULUT, Istanbul resident
7. various of market in Istanbul

STORYLINE:

Amid the rising cost of living, Turkish families have been struggling to pay for the required school supplies to meet their children's aspirations.

This year, however, prices increased by more than 50 percent compared to last year, making it uneasy for families to make ends meet, especially those living on minimum wages.

Even stationery shops in Istanbul's old Tahtakale neighborhood, where school supplies used to be sold at the lowest prices, have had no choice but to raise their prices due to rising costs.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Turkish): SEYMANUR ARSLAN, Istanbul resident
"A pen holder, two files, and two notebooks cost 640 Turkish liras (approximately 29 U.S. dollars). A pen in my daughter's hand is 40 liras. We will also pay 2,000-2,500 liras for shoes and school uniforms. I still need to include the coat, which will cost 2,000 liras alone."

The stallholder, meanwhile, was not happy with the sales. "This is the cheapest place to buy stationery in Türkiye," he said without giving his name.

"The school supplies used to be selling like crazy at this time of the year, but the streets are empty now," he complained.

A wholesaler of stationery products in the shop next door said that "the shoppers used to come with a lorry to purchase, now they do their shopping only with a nylon bag."

Ferruh Buyukoglu, the owner of another stationery called "Bargain Market," said the prices of all his items increased by at least 50 to 100 percent.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Turkish): FERRUH BUYUKOGLU, Stationer
"Purchasing power is diminishing. Paying cash is not an alternative now. Everyone is relying on credit cards. Let's see how far card usage will go."

At Buyukoglu's shop, a family of three was buying school supplies for their daughter, who is in her second year of primary school. 

SOUNDBITE 3 (Turkish): NURDAN BULUT, Istanbul resident
"All is very expensive this year. Look, a pencil sharpener is 30 liras. We used to buy it for 2.5 liras and even for 1.5 (a couple of years ago)."

Nurdan Bulut said she had to save the unused parts of older son's notebooks for her daughter instead of buying a new one.

The government has long been trying to solve the rising inflation, which hit 58.94 percent in August, through a series of measures.

The minimum wages of millions of workers increased by 34 percent for the second half of 2023, from 8,506 liras to 11,402 liras. However, the increase has failed to ease the burden on the households.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently said the fight against inflation could be long and uphill.

"The rise in annual inflation requires us to fight harder against the cost of living," Erdogan stated, particularly highlighting the surge in prices of raw materials, energy, and labor, as well as rents.

However, the president vowed that his government is determined to lower inflation.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Istanbul, Türkiye.
(XHTV)