Muhammet Emin Akbaşoğlu, the Group Deputy Chairman of Turkey's ruling AKP suggested eating bagels to the workers living below the starvation line in Turkey.
Stating that both a cup of tea and a bagel is 1 Turkish Lira [$0,17] each in Turkey’s Central Anatolian province of Çankırı, Akbaşoğlu said: "I am going to calculate for a family of five. In 2002, when AKP was not in power, the income of our citizens with minimum wage was not enough to buy a cup of tea and a bagel for three main meals. What is the income of our citizens working with minimum wage today? 2,020 Turkish Liras [$353]. Keep this in your mind. The total cost of a cup of tea and a bagel per person is 2 liras.’’
"For a meal of a family of five, this cost will be 10 liras [$1,75], which means 30 liras per day. If we calculate it on a monthly basis, the total cost is 900 Turkish Liras [$157,45] for a family of five."
"So, when we subtract this amount from 2,020 Turkish Liras [$353], we can see that a worker with minimum wage can save 1,120 Turkish Liras [$196]. Is it better or worse than the pre-AKP period?" he continued.
The starvation line for a family of four is 2,046 [$358,95] Turkish Lira monthly as of March 2019, showing a 460 percent increase since 2003 under the AKP government, according to recent research carried out by the Center for Class Studies of the United Metal Workers’ Union (BİSAM).
The report prepared by BİSAM also indicates that poverty threshold in Turkey is 7,079 Turkish Liras [$1.238,44] by March 2019.
