Source: AFP
The tantalizing smell of roasted corn and chestnuts wafted from Hakan Deniz’s red and gold food cart near a mosque in Istanbul’s old city. But local customers are hard to come by these days.
With Turkey mired in hyperinflation, Istanbul’s ubiquitous street vendors, a part of the cityscape since the Ottoman Empire, are worried about their future.
“Our tomorrow is uncertain,” said Deniz, 18, after pushing his stroller in front of the Rustem Pasha Mosque.
“I’ve lost almost half of my customers to inflation,” said Denis as he weighed and handed a bag of chestnuts to an American tourist.
He wondered aloud if salesmen like him would “still exist in the future.”
Inflation rose around the world after the Covid pandemic and jumped further after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but was particularly bad in Turkey.
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Officially, it shot up to 85 percent in October 2022 before slowing and rising again to reach 75 percent in May this year. Inflation has since eased, with Tuesday’s data showing it was at 52% in August.
“Ottoman tradition”
The streets of Istanbul, a metropolis of 16 million inhabitants, would not be the same without its street vendors.
At night, mobile stalls with illuminated neon signs form constellations of light on the picturesque streets of the city.
Source: AFP
They fill the air with an array of smells — from stuffed clams to simits, slices of delicious sesame-coated bread.
Marketers enjoy a “positive image” in general, said Osman Sirkeci, a researcher at the Izmir University of Economics.
Some, such as sellers of the sweet toffee paste known as macun, are considered inheritors of an “Ottoman tradition,” Sirkeci said.
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Their ranks have swelled since the Covid pandemic, with a million people becoming street vendors, the researcher said.
Turkey now has seven million street vendors, working legally or illegally, he said.
Inflation, however, has hit occupations already known for low wages and small margins very hard.
“Mobile merchants’ expenses are much lower than traditional stores because they don’t have rent or electricity bills to pay,” Sirkeji said.
But they also have other high costs, such as raw materials they get from middlemen who pass on the cost of inflation, instead of buying them directly from producers.
“The price of sesame has skyrocketed. The same goes for flour. Everything is very expensive,” says Nuri Geyik, a 54-year-old bagel seller.
He was selling his bread for a pound a piece a few years ago.
Source: AFP
“Now I’m forced to sell them for £15,” he said.
Mithat Atilgan sells fruit and vegetables grown in Bursa, an area about 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Istanbul.
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“Transportation costs have also increased,” Atilgan said.
“Sales are bad,” he added, noting that Turkish customers cannot keep up with price increases.
“Only the rich can buy my fruit today,” said Atilgan, selling figs from his cart.
‘I’m ashamed’
Mustafa Demir wondered how much longer his regular Turkish customers would buy his jars of pickles.
“I’m ashamed to sell the jars for 40 pounds to my loyal customers,” he said, recalling how he used to sell them for 15 cents.
Source: AFP
Deniz said his customers were mainly Turkish in the past.
“It’s not the case anymore. Now 70 percent are tourists,” Deniz admitted.
While Sirkeci, the researcher, believes the street vendors will survive, Deniz is not so sure.
“This job is going to disappear,” he said. “Look at the boza (fermented grain drink) sellers. There are hardly any of them left in Istanbul.”
Source: AFP
