Ahead of every election in Turkey, political parties make myriad promises to the jobless and the poor, pledging social benefits for low-income families and retirees and housing projects for the homeless. The promises are typically forgotten after a government is formed and then everything goes about as usual. Ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections, however, two issues appear bound to persist and keep fueling debate:
- It has emerged that the authorities have secretly profiled all of Turkey’s 77 million citizens, with all sorts of personal information included.
- The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has come up with an alternative “profiling” that draws up a comprehensive picture of poverty in Turkey.
The revelation that police have secretly profiled all Turkish citizens was made by CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu during a party meeting in parliament March 17. Kilicdaroglu based his claim on a document penned by the intelligence department of the directorate-general of police, which he showed at the meeting. According to the CHP chairman, two data analysis programs, called Deva 1 and Deva 2, were used to collect information, with their databases now containing personal details about every person in the country. “Since we are politicians, I can see why we are being profiled. But why are you profiling taxi drivers, for God’s sake?” Kilicdaroglu said in his speech, addressing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The CHP, for its part, made an alternative “profiling” of the population that drew up Turkey’s poverty map. The report, penned by a team led by CHP parliament member Umut Oran, detailed the economic woes of the impoverished masses and urged the government to struggle against poverty instead of busying itself with profiling.
The report, which Oran made available to Al-Monitor, is based on current data by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK), which represent the state’s official figures that the government cannot dispute or deny. According to the report, 22 million Turks have an average monthly income of only 835 Turkish lira ($320), and 49 million are struggling with debt. It says 34 million cannot afford meat, chicken or fish once every two days, 56.2 million lack the means to renew worn-out furniture and 26 million are unable to buy new clothes. A one-week vacation per year is beyond the means of 58 million people.
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