Striking 'middle class' statement from Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: The meal boiling in the pot is not shared equally among the plates

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stated in an article he penned for Sözcü that the middle class in Turkey is under attack.

Kılıçdaroğlu assessed, "Unfortunately, the middle class, which sustains our society, our democracy, our economy, and our future, is under a major attack today. These attacks have been increasing steadily since 2018, when the transition to the one-man regime took place. Blow after blow is being dealt to the demands, values, and material means represented by the middle class. Turkey has entered a process where bribery has become legitimized, liars have gained prestige, justice has been surrendered to gangs, moral values have degenerated, social decay has been almost accepted as normal, impoverishment has been accepted as fate, and seeking rights is considered almost a crime. The blows are so great that statistical games are no longer enough to hide what is happening."

The full text of Kılıçdaroğlu's article is as follows;

Before defining the middle class, I think it is more important for us to understand the importance of the middle class in a country by defining a "life worthy of human dignity." So, what is a life worthy of human dignity? We can define it as follows, also benefiting from Constitutional Court decisions. Ensuring that individuals live in peace, prosperity, and happiness, establishing a fair balance between individual rights and freedoms and the public interest, protecting workers and the weak to ensure the national income is distributed in accordance with justice, and guaranteeing the social security rights of individuals are some of the basic criteria for creating a life worthy of human dignity. (Constitutional Court Decision dated 18.05.2016. Basis: 2016/154, Decision: 2016/106)

WHO IS THE MIDDLE CLASS?

Now, let's come to the other question... Who is this middle class? We can explain it with these examples. They are the mothers and fathers who want their children to receive a good education. They are the doctors, teachers, and lawyers who want to practice their professions freely in this country. They are the academics, engineers, and tradespeople who demand democracy, rights, law, and justice. They are married couples dreaming of a house to live in or a car to drive. They are families who want to go on vacation with their children at least once a year. In other words, they are the millions who want to live in a way worthy of human dignity in this beautiful country.

THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE MIDDLE CLASS...

This question is important... Who is the guarantor of a strong economy, a strong social structure, and a strong democracy in a country? Of course, it is a strong middle class. For this reason, the middle class is far beyond representing an income group; it is the guarantor of democracy, morality, and justice. The middle class nurtures and represents social values, expectations, demands, solidarity, and hopes for the future. If the middle class collapses, society collapses along with all of these. A tradesperson cannot find an economic group to sell their products to, the tradesperson collapses, and if the tradesperson collapses, the economy collapses. Parents who cannot meet the needs of a demanding young generation, who are aware of the whole world with the advent of the internet age, become unhappy, aggressive, and family ties are strained. If the family collapses, society collapses. An inexperienced and unhappy young generation emerges, they make wrong decisions, and our youth is wasted. If there is no youth, that country has no future; the future collapses. That is how important the middle class is!

So, who is responsible for providing and maintaining a life worthy of human dignity? Of course, those who govern the state. That is, the palace and its cronies..

Unfortunately, the middle class, which sustains our society, our democracy, our economy, and our future, is under a major attack today. These attacks have been increasing steadily since 2018, when the transition to the one-man regime took place. Blow after blow is being dealt to the demands, values, and material means represented by the middle class. Turkey has entered a process where bribery has become legitimized, liars have gained prestige, justice has been surrendered to gangs, moral values have degenerated, social decay has been almost accepted as normal, impoverishment has been accepted as fate, and seeking rights is considered almost a crime. The blows are so great that statistical games are no longer enough to hide what is happening. The data that TÜİK has announced one after another in the last few days is clear.

EVEN A WOLF WOULD NOT MAKE THIS DISTRIBUTION...

If we liken Turkey to a big family of 85 million, in 2022, approximately 31 million members of this big family worked hard and produced a meal worth 906 billion dollars. If we divided this cooked meal equally among every family member, working or not, everyone would get a share of 10 thousand 659 dollars. But the meal boiling in the pot is not shared equally among the plates. Some people's plates are deeper and larger; some people's plates are shallower and smaller. At the table, some take it with a ladle, while others taste the cooked meal with a teaspoon.

To understand how fair the sharing at the table is, economists have developed a metric called the "Gini Coefficient." As this coefficient approaches zero, it indicates that justice in distribution increases; as it approaches one, it indicates that justice in distribution deteriorates.

So, how was the distribution in the big Turkey family in 2022? The answer is provided by TÜİK's "Income Distribution Statistics" data. According to TÜİK's statistics, the sharing at the table in 2022 is the most unfair sharing of the last 17 years...

The injustice in sharing has become particularly evident in the last two years. When we divide all families into 20 groups from the poorest to the richest, while the share of the wealthiest from the cooked meal increased by 3.5 points in the last two years, the share received by almost all other families declined. What was taken from the spoon of the poor was put on the plate of the rich. So much so that in 2022, the ration of the wealthiest five percent was 31 times that of the poorest 5 percent. An injustice that no conscience can accept. As the master Necip Fazıl said, "Even a wolf would not make this distribution if it were the king of the lambs..."

IGNORANCE OR PREMEDITATION?

So, what happened in 2021 and 2022 that the injustice in sharing skyrocketed? What happened is known to everyone... By saying "interest is the cause, inflation is the result," the cost of living in this country was deliberately and intentionally exploded. While the currency risk of pro-government companies was placed on the state's back with the 128 billion dollars evaporated from the Central Bank's treasury, the debts of the companies were melted away with the exploded inflation. That was not enough; plenty of credit was pumped to pro-government companies with interest rates below inflation. A terrible transfer of wealth was carried out in this country, right before our eyes, at the expense of the nation. And those who got the biggest profit from this wealth transfer were the "gang of 5"...

The morsel taken from the spoon of the middle class was put on the plates of the rich, the cronies, and the gang of 5. And today, in our country, it has become a dream for the middle class to own a house or a car, to send their child to a private school, or to have a pleasant vacation. Our society has been subjected to terrible impoverishment. All of this was done with premeditation, that is, knowingly and willingly...

The rich cannot raise their voices much due to profit calculations, and the poor cannot due to livelihood concerns. The only segment that will raise its voice is the middle class. That is why the middle class in Turkey is under an unprecedented attack today. History is full of examples showing that a collapsing middle class paves the way for radical movements. To protect our democracy, to protect our future, to protect our economy, and to protect the values that make us who we are, we must protect the middle class. The political institution exists for this purpose, and today, this should be the number one agenda item of politics.

So, what happened in 2021 and 2022 that the injustice in sharing skyrocketed? What happened is known to everyone. When looking at the sharing table, one inevitably remembers that famous saying of Dücane Cündioğlu:

"Do not look at what the man who talks about God and the Book says, but look at what he eats; because what he says is a claim, what he eats is proof."

News Source: 12punto