Unemployment: Who is Standing in the Queues?

Construction worker Sebahattin Çelik (31) was dismissed from work one and a half months ago for “missing work”. In fact, he was lying in hospital at the time. “My work place knew about it, I have social security,” says Çelik. In order to receive compensation, he has gone to court.

“There are lots of people like me. My friends have been working for months without getting paid. They cannot leave, nor are they getting paid.”

According to recently published statistics by the Turkish Statistical Institute, TÜİK, there are nearly three million unemployment, but economists are saying that the real number is much higher, up to six million, and that the crisis is being as an excuse for firing people.

We went to Istanbul’s Turkish Employment Agency (TİK) in Tophane and spoke to people we met there. Çelik is going to apply for unemployment benefits, no matter how little: “If it does not flow, at least it will drip.”

Similar stories everywhere

The stories of those coming to the TİK building are very similar. They are all unemployed, they have all been dismissed, they are all desperate.

Ayşe (45) left the building in a rage, not stopping to talk to us. She only shouted over shoulders, “I have been coming here for weeks, but there is always a document missing. What a disgrace, and all for three kuruş.”

Bayram Koç (35), a hotel employee, lost his job in the 2001 economic crisis. He is looking for work and thinks that, meanwhile, he will get by on the unemployment benefit. “Of course, this is only true for someone like me, who is single and does not have to pay rent. A family could never survive on it.”

Cem Sertkaya (31) said that he was one of 70 car factory workers who were dismissed 20 days ago, the economic crisis being blamed. He says that he has been depressed for days.

“People are very scared. I was really motivated, and then my boss came and told me that I was being laid off. In shock, I could not even say goodbye to my colleagues. Now I only leave the house to come here.”

Sertkaya said that he found it difficult to pay the bills.

Leather worker Emine Kaya (45) is another victim of the crisis, having lost her job. “Whenever there is a crisis, women suffer most,” she said. Her husband is retired, and she has applied for unemployment benefits.

“It is impossible to get by on one pension, not even if you scrimp and do not leave the house. We also send some money to our son, who is doing his military service. I’m hoping that this will pay for his pocket money.”

Days of efforts for nothing 

Adnan Küçükoğlu complained about the slow bureaucracy at the agency. He is married and has two children. When the company he worked for said they had gone bankrupt in December, he became unemployed. However, the company is still active, and, so Küçükoğlu, has just spent 200,000 TL (around 94,000 Euros) on buying a new building.

“I have taken the company to court for not paying compensation, and then I found out that they had bought this building. I realised once again that as soon as the bosses see a crisis on the horizon, they sacrifice the workers.”

This is the third economic crisis that has left Küçükoğlu unemployed, after the ones in 1994 and 2001. He said he did not believe in trade unions and was not a member, but on the other hand, he said that workers and the unemployed needed to get organised.

Küçükoğlu has spent around 100 TL on coming to the agency recently. This is slightly less than half of the amount he is hoping to receive in unemployment benefits. It took days for him to be told that he had to have paid insurance contributions for at least 600 days in order to receive benefits – but he has only accumulated 470 days…

“I came here for days before they told me, handed in countless documents, photocopied them. I only found out I would not get paid after doing all of this.”

Psychiatrists warn of rise in mental health problems

In the face of rising unemployment, the Turkish Association of Psychiatrists (TPD) has called for urgent measures to deal with societal mental health problems created by unemployment and poverty.

The association says that those left without a job, as well as their families, need free-of-charge preventative health services.

Poverty and unemployment, so the association, increase the risk of depression, suicide, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and anxiety attacks dramatically.

Thus, says the TDP, the following measures should be taken:

• Free-of-charge psychological services for the poor and unemployed
• Special preventative services for children: Children of unemployed parents need to undergo regular check-ups to make sure they are receiving sufficient nutrition and are not suffering from viral and infectious illnesses. Necessary treatment and nourishment need to be provided.
• No more health payments: The contributions that employees pay for health services and medicine need to be cancelled.
• Education programmes: All schools and educational institutions at all levels need to prepare educational programmes to deal with physical and psychological illnesses.
• Raise in unemployment benefits: The amount and length of time of benefits needs to be increased, as well as the number of people who are entitled to apply for it. ( (BÇ/TK/AG)

* Photographs by Alberto Tetta