Market vendors reject 'golden years' claims amid economic hardship in Istanbul

While government officials tout Turkey's "golden years" over the past 25 years, citizens selling produce at Istanbul's Koşuyolu Market paint a starkly different picture of economic struggle. They reject the notion of prosperity, with many forced into market work in their seventies.

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What golden age? We haven't seen it. It hasn't come to us, it hasn't touched us villagers...

One woman, who sells tomatoes and peppers from her garden, lamented the lack of "golden times" for ordinary people. "We haven't seen it, the golden times. It hasn't come to us, it hasn't touched us villagers," she said, explaining her physical ailments make the work difficult. She also shared that her husband's pension is insufficient to cover their expenses, including a mortgage on their home and utility bills, forcing her to sell at the market.

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My salary is zero. We used to buy things for our home, for our car, but now we gave the house to the contractor, we can't even pay that. Look, my bills are not paid, I go to the market to pay them. It's very difficult, life is very difficult.

Another producer from Pendik Göçbeyli echoed these sentiments, describing a harsh reality where sales are low and farming costs are prohibitively high. "We've been at markets for thirty years, daughter. Our old days, we were living in Europe then. Now we are dying of hunger," she stated. She detailed the expense of running a small water pump for irrigation, costing 5,000 lira for diesel, and the general unprofitability of farming, leading many to abandon their fields. "We are not earning anything, not at all," she concluded.

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What golden age did we have? We haven't lived it, daughter. Look, at my age, in this shalwar, I can't stand up. I have high blood pressure. Then I have two or three hernias in my neck, I can't bend down. Look, I'm sitting on a chair.