Both our meat and our bones

Turkey is struggling with harsh winter conditions. So much so that temperatures in Istanbul dropped to -7 degrees last week. While the government and the opposition are busy bickering—with the government saying, "It snowed, you couldn't provide service," and the opposition replying, "We provide better service than you"—there were scenes in Istanbul that chilled us to the bone.

The queues that formed in front of the Meat and Milk Board (ESK) store in Beylikdüzü, despite the -7 degree weather, were shameful.

A large portion of the citizens start queuing as early as 5:00 AM for the store, which opens at 8:00 AM, to buy cheap ground meat and cubed meat sold in packages of approximately 1.5 kilograms. It is impossible to see these queues in Germany, which supposedly envies us, in England, or in France, where Turks supposedly do not want to live because it is too expensive.

In the queue, a citizen interviewed by the ANKA Agency says they can only afford to buy meat once every two months. But while politicians, who claim to be on the side of the citizen at every opportunity, watch the citizens wait in line to eat cheap meat, they have not pursued the cheap meat they imported for their citizens!

CHP Gaziantep Deputy Hasan Öztürkmen announced the other day that they had documented that the meat brought from abroad, which should have been given to the citizens, was instead given to large companies. As Öztürkmen explained what was happening with the meat and live animal imports carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, we remembered the citizens waiting in -7 degree weather.

So, who was given the meat? This part is interesting! Köfteci Yusuf, who cried out "They conspired against me" when pork was found in their products, is at the top of the list of companies that received this meat... You know, the Köfteci Yusuf that citizens flocked to support with slogans, only to later return the meat they bought; they received 400 head of cattle out of the 8,912 head of cattle imported from Brazil by the Meat and Milk Board (ESK).

Looking at the list, one says, "Oh, my poor people." According to Öztürkmen's list, Köfteci Yusuf, McDonald's, and Burger King bought the meat that citizens were supposed to get for 175 liras per kilo.

In other words, it is not even the price of a single burger portion at these three brands.

Citizens are trying to get meat either from burgers containing unknown ingredients or by waiting in queues at -7 degrees. I want to say "May God reform them," but they just won't change...