MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Çewlîg (Bingöl)-  Turkey's economic crisis has been deepening. The deepening economic crisis and price hikes badly affect all segments of the society, especially the low-incomers and small shopkeepers. In Çewlîg, women who earn a living by baking tandoori bread face difficulties in making both ends meet due to the increasing prices of flour and wood.
Müşerref Kılıç, who has been earning a living by baking tandoori bread for 10 years, said, “After working as an employee for different tandoori shops, I opened my own tandoori shop and I have worked here for five years. I was supported by no one when I opened this shop. Despite everything, I managed to open my shop.”

 ‘Our income is less than our expenses’

Müşerref Kılıç’s tandoori shop is a place where three other women earn a living. “At the shop, we bake and sell local bread. We start working at 7 in the morning and go home at 7 in the evening. Every day, we spend 12 hours in front of the tandoori oven. Despite working for 12 hours every day, the high cost affects us very badly. We work hard but earn less. Our income is less than our expenses.”

‘Some families buy less’

Müşerref Kılıç told us that they cannot make both ends meet due to recent price hikes. “Most of the time, we cannot pay our rent. Every day, the price of flour and wood rises. Whenever the price of flour and wood rises, we have to increase bread prices. Our customers are also badly affected by the price hikes. Before the price of bread (500 gr.) was four liras (Turkish Lira) but now it is 10 liras. Some families buy less bread due to the increasing bread price.”

‘I will not close my shop and sit at home’

Calling on the authorities to reduce the prices of the products, Müşerref Kılıç said, “I will keep struggling not to close my shop because three women earn a living from here. Despite everything, I will not close my shop and sit at home. The authorities should reduce the prices of the products. They should find a solution for the economic crisis we have been suffering from.”