They stole 80 percent from retirees and 64 percent from workers: They gave the farmers a third of nothing

Cries of distress are rising from every corner of Turkey, from producers of every kind of product you can imagine. Producers of wheat, barley, industrial tomatoes, sunflowers, grapes, figs, melons, watermelons, and almost every product you can think of, as well as livestock farmers for meat and milk, are in great trouble. The farmer cannot harvest the product from the field, and the milk producer, who is losing money, is sending their milk-producing cows to the slaughterhouse.  

The price of food products in the field is between 50 kuruş and 5 liras, while the price in the market is between 20 liras and 150 liras... The difference is 10, 15, or 30 times higher... The difference goes to the merchant, the high-toll highways, bridges, and transportation.  On top of all this loss, the farmer also pays a massive amount of VAT along with high-cost irrigation electricity and diesel prices. 

Especially in the last four years, while inputs—diesel, fertilizer, irrigation electricity, pesticides, and seeds—have increased even above the ENAG inflation rate, the ceiling prices set by the state for the highest quality products have increased even below the TUIK inflation rate.

I calculated and reported in previous articles how much they stole from retirees and workers through inflation. Now let's look at how much of the farmers' income they have seized. But to understand the sanctity of labor, let's first briefly summarize the philosophical dimension of the matter. 

THE DEFINITION OF WEALTH BY THREE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS 100 YEARS APART

John Locke (1632-1704): The founder of liberal thought... The source of inspiration for Constitutional Democracy, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution... But do not equate the liberal thought here with capitalism. In the concept of freedoms and human rights, it refers to the freedom of thought, belief, and enterprise of individuals.  John Locke defines wealth in the 17th century as accumulated labor. 

Adam Smith (1723-1790). The explainer of the theory of capitalism, who was born 91 years after John Locke (note the difference; he is not the founder of the market system, but the explainer of how the market system works), is of the same opinion. According to him, too, wealth is accumulated labor.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), the theorist of the socialist system, who was born 186 years after John Locke and 95 years after Adam Smith, also developed the concept of surplus value to criticize the concept of accumulated labor—which Adam Smith used to define the source of wealth—as a system of exploitation. The concept of surplus value explains profit and, of course, the source of wealth.

Based on this definition made by three great philosophers of three different theories at intervals of approximately one hundred years, we can easily state the following: All infrastructure facilities, airports, roads, electricity grids, dams, hospitals, universities, telecommunication companies, and whatever else you can think of that the public owns, are owned by the retirees of yesterday and those who continue to work today. The source, owner, and boss of all public wealth is labor, retirees, and workers. The owner of natural resources should also belong equally to all citizens of the country.  

When we talk about retirement pensions and worker wages, we will first look at the issue from this perspective. And of course, we will give the deserved value to agriculture and the farmers, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers who own the labor of agriculture—who turn the opportunities provided by nature into economic value, first feeding people and then transferring resources to the state, the army, and industry throughout known human history. Especially in agriculture, we will engrave into our memory the slaves, serfs, and slave trade of old eras as one of the greatest shames of human history. 

The saying "The peasant is the master of the nation" was one of the cornerstones of Atatürk's Republican Revolution. Unfortunately, it was blocked by counter-revolutionary forces (Land Reform and Village Institutes). The peasant also gave approval to this obstruction. That is a separate article topic. I will write about it.  

HOW MUCH DID THEY STEAL FROM THE FARMER?

For the last 4.5 years, I have been frequently bringing up both here on 12 Punto and on my personal YouTube channel how much they have stolen from retirees and the minimum wage through TUIK. Let's look at how much they stole from the farmers today.

(Calculations were made based on ENAG inflation for the 4.5-year period from January 2020 to the end of June 2024. During this period, inflation was 1803 percent, and the index I based as 100 for January 2020 increased 19 times, reaching 1903. Those who are curious about the details can look at my old articles on 12 Punto.)

They ran over the retiree with a bulldozer. They seized 80 percent of the lowest retirement pension, which should have been 40 percent above the minimum wage. The amount that should be is 61,845 liras, the pension they receive is 12,500 liras...

They eroded the worker's wage. They turned the minimum wage, which should have had a share of 5 percent, or at most 10 percent, within wages, into the average wage. (About 60 percent of employees are minimum wage earners.) If a worker seeks their rights, they were beaten with batons by the police, struck with rifle butts by the gendarmerie, and sprayed with pepper gas on top of it. They seized 62 percent of the minimum wage. The minimum wage is 17,000 liras, it should be 44,175 liras... By the way, let's address the absurdity of trade unionism in Turkey in another article. 

Well, they weren't going to skip the other productive force, the farmer, were they... They had the gendarmerie strike the villagers, people the age of their grandmothers and grandfathers who were trying to protect their fields, trees, olives, and pastures where they grazed their animals from crazed miners or tourism operators. They dispersed their resistance with pepper gas. They seized their economic assets by state force. The Turkish peasant, who witnessed the attacks, rape, and massacres of the occupying army soldiers during the occupation years of 1919-1922, was struck with rifle butts and suffered persecution by their own Mehmetçik (Turkish soldier) 100 years later. I find it hard to find words. Let's address the definition of the Turkish Army in the Populism Declaration presented to the Parliament by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha in 1920 in another article.  

I called a friend of mine who is a farmer to ask how I could calculate farmer incomes. Moreover, he is a qualified economist... There is a 10-year difference between us. Like me, he is a graduate of the Hacettepe University economics department... "Wheat is the raw material of our bread, and barley is the raw material for feed in animal husbandry that gives us meat and milk, so calculating based on wheat and barley prices would be an accurate measure. But let me tell you bluntly before you do the calculation. In colloquial terms, or inspired by one of the former Presidents, Turgut Özal, they gave the farmers a third of nothing," he said.

In 2020, the ceiling price for wheat was 1.70 kuruş. Today it is 9 liras 25 kuruş. According to ENAG, prices have increased 19 times in 4.5 years. The price should be 32 liras 30 kuruş. That is only 29 percent... 71 percent has evaporated into thin air...

In 2020, the ceiling price for barley was 1 lira 35 kuruş. Today it is 7 liras 25 kuruş. The price should be 25 liras 65 kuruş. Only 28 percent of what it should be... 72 percent of the barley producer's income has also flown away. 

A third is 33.3 percent... The 29 percent they gave to the farmer is even less than "a third of nothing"... And we must add this on top: According to the law, they were supposed to provide support to agriculture equal to 1 percent of the national income. In 20 years, this money totaled 166 billion dollars. They slashed it, gave 24 billion dollars to the farmer, and spent 142 billion dollars here and there, distributing it to sects and cronies.

THE APOCALYPSE WILL BREAK AFTER SEPTEMBER

I am summarizing from my schoolmate farmer friend. The farmer was hit on one side by the government's policies and on the other by the drought experienced this year. The real apocalypse will break after September. Banks, merchants, and loan sharks who lend money to farmers and expect collection after the harvest will not be able to get their money. Most likely, they will rush to the enforcement office.

On one side, the government's agricultural and economic policies aimed at consciously ending agriculture, and on the other, the drought.

The farmer, who already could not earn money this year and went into debt, will have to run their tractor for a longer time and burn more diesel to prepare their field, which is as hard as stone due to the drought, for planting. While they spend 2 liters of diesel for one dönüm (one decare) in a moist, watered field, this year they will burn 3.5 liters of diesel in their field, which is as hard as stone due to the drought. Is there any need to remind of the increases in diesel prices, the increases in the depreciation of tractor equipment, and the increases in fertilizer, pesticide, and seed prices? The farmer who is losing money and drowning in debt... The vast majority of them may not even plant their fields this year.

In agriculture, there is a signal of a crisis even worse than the financial and real sector crisis. However, the Minister of Finance, the Central Bank, and the Ministry of Agriculture officials have gathered. They are making statements like, "We are observing the situation. There is no need for additional measures. We will act as usual."

WILL THERE BE HUNGER AND FAMINE?

One of the former ministers of agriculture had said as if it were a skill, "We have money, so we import." We don't have money. Turkey is in a quagmire of foreign debt and is constantly running a foreign trade deficit and a current account deficit. Imperialism's BOP (Greater Middle East Project) plan is working like clockwork.

End agriculture, spread misery to the general public, make society obedient through hunger. Put the economy into a debt trap. According to the rule that he who borrows receives orders, leave the control of not only economic assets but also geopolitical assets, especially foreign policy, defense, and land and sea borders, to me.

Note: Separate article topics emerged on different subjects within the article.

The Counter-Revolution against the Republican Revolution, which finds itself in the expression "The Peasant is the Master of the Nation"...

The Mehmetçik who strikes the villager the age of their grandmother and grandfather who seeks their rights, and Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha's Populism Declaration and Army definition...

The absurdity of trade unionism in Turkey... I will try to summarize them all in one, or if not, two articles.