Luxury and poverty hand-in-hand in Turkey

According to the newly-released income and living conditions survey of the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), the rich have become richer while the poor have become poorer.  

Turkey's richest 20 percent have a share of 46.5 percent of the national income, up from 45.9 percent last year. The share of the poorest 20 percent has fallen from 6.2 percent to 6.1 percent.  

In the current situation, 6.6 million people in Turkey are living under the absolute poverty line. Their monthly incomes are less than 416 Turkish Liras. If you add to this figure the poor segment who earn less than 520 liras a month and the relatively poor who earn less than 624 liras per month, we understand that a total of 16.7 million people in Turkey are fighting poverty. 

This 16.7 million makes one-fifth of the country. 

According to Deloitte's "The Rise of Luxury in Turkey" report published in 2015, the luxury market in Turkey between 2010 and 2014 expanded at an average of 10 percent every year to reach 5.3 billion liras. In 2018, this figure is expected to reach 7 billion liras. 

According to Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) data, the number of people who hold a bank account worth over 1 million liras has increased 22 percent in the last 10 years to reach 77,210 people in 2014. 

In other words, at one extreme there are 6.6 million people trying to live on less than 416 liras a month and at the other extreme there are 77,000 people who have more than 1 million liras in the bank. 

On one hand there are millions who are not able to meet their basic needs; on the other hand, there are thousands who want to show their status with automobiles, shoes and bags, and who spend a lot on luxury personal care products brands. ...