JEDDAH: The story of a man who died on Friday after setting himself on fire sparked a widespread debate about the level of poverty in Turkey.

The 42-year-old unemployed man, Adem Yarici, was a father of two, who set himself on fire in front of the southern province of the-Hatay governor’s office because “my kids are hungry.”

The governor’s office said in an official statement that the man had attempted to die on a previous occasion due to “psychological disorders.” No official from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) attended his funeral.

Comments by a local official from AKP’s eastern Agri province, Selma Gokcen, drew harsh criticism after she said: “These are political maneuvers. No one would set him/herself on fire just because of poverty. Otherwise, there would be no one left in Nigeria, Chad, Zambia, Haiti, Madagascar, Yemen or Sierra Leone.”

The number of family and individual suicides in Turkey has increased over recent months.

In late 2019, there were three collective suicides by cyanide as economic conditions deteriorated. The families involved were under pressure from huge debt and the increased cost of living.

Seren Selvin Korkmaz, executive director of the Istanbul Political Research Institute (IstanPol), said that the statement by the AKP official shows how the party has become far removed from the problems of ordinary people.

“The AKP came to power by gaining the support of the poor. During their rule, they have ensured some benefits to the poor. However, those benefits were not the implementation of a social state but neoliberalism with a social face. They have reorganized patronage mechanisms and clientelism relations and pro-government NGOs have become the intermediaries by allocating social aid,” she told Arab News.

Korkmaz said that those NGOs had networks with the government and some religious orders, and after the failed coup attempt these clientelist links had become even more problematic because of the lack of “trust” and “suspicion” within those networks.

“The presidential system has also weakened the decision-making process. People at the low levels of bureaucracy or party cadres hardly take initiatives. That is why all of the social aid mechanisms that they set have been also damaged and the benefits have begun to be held by a very tiny majority that has very close links with the top level,” she said.

Korkmaz thinks the affects of this broken patronage will be seen in the coming years.

“The state was not a social state but it somehow has created a clientelism-based social-aid system. Now, this system has also weakened. Hence, ordinary people who suffer from precarity and poverty are now more vulnerable without any social support,” she said.

FAST FACT The number of family and individual suicides in Turkey has increased over recent months.

“The minority who benefit from state resources are now really far away from the everyday struggle of the people. Thus, the statement of the AKP official actually demonstrates the transformation of the AKP itself.”

The findings of IstanPol’s latest research document, “The Precarity of Youth in Turkey: Perception of Work, Subsistence and Life,” support the argument that without employment and social support, people are vulnerable in Turkey.

“Young people who feel the precarity think that their only support is their family. In the case of an emergency, rather than the state or relatives they think that only the family will help. Under these circumstances, if people cannot find a support from the family they feel lonely and hopeless, which may lead to them committing suicide,” Korkmaz said.

Official data shows that unemployment in Turkey has reached roughly 13 percent in the country, which has experienced a long recession. The net monthly minimum wage is about $430, while annual inflation rose by 0.31 percentage points month-on-month in January and reached 12.15 percent.

According to Korkmaz, the structure of government, a presidential system based on a lack of check and balances, is the major problem which affects the decision-making process at every level.

“Hence, economic policies are in trouble and are far away from serving the interests of people. Rising unemployment and low wages with increasing life costs seems to be a major problem for Turkey. That is why, rather than focusing on an aid-based social support system, the state should focus on solving the problem of unemployment and provide wages that ensure a dignified life,” she said.

In May 2018, another unemployed man attempted to set himself on fire in front of the parliamentary building in the capital city Ankara.