Turkish crisis turns books into a dying luxury
ISTANBUL: Turkish doctoral student Gulfer Ulas has seen the first edition of her favorite Thomas Mann collection released for 33 lire.
She found the second copy of the same two-volume set that sold months later in her Istanbul bookstore for 70 lire (around $ 6 at the latest exchange rate).
The jump illustrates the debilitating unpredictability of the economic crisis that is raging in Turkey on almost every facet of daily life, from shopping to education and culture.
Publishers fear it will also kill an industry that offers a rare voice for diversity in a country where most of the media obey the socially conservative government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“I’m a doctoral student in international relations, so I have to read a lot. I spend almost 1,000 lire a month on books on my reading list, even though I also download from the Internet,†Ulas said.
“Book prices are skyrocketing.
– The essentials on books – The Turkish lira industry almost entirely dependent on paper imports highlights one flaw in the economic experiment Erdogan has unleashed against his country of 84 million people in recent months.
Erdogan tore up the rulebook of economics by orchestrating sharp interest rate cuts in an attempt to bring down chronically rising consumer prices.
Economists find it hard to remember the last time a large country did something similar, as it is widely assumed that cheap loans cause inflation, not cure it.
Turks’ fears of further erosion of their purchasing power prompted a surge in purchases of gold and dollars that wiped out nearly half the value of the lira in a matter of weeks.
Accelerating losses forced Erdogan last week to announce further measures to support the currency backed by seemingly heavy exchange rate interventions that managed to erase much of the decline.
Few economists see it as a long-term solution. Lira now regularly gains or loses five percent of its value per day.
Kirmizi Kedi publishing house owner Haluk Hepkon says he fears all this uncertainty “will force people to prioritize buying essentials and putting books aside “.
“You publish a book, and let’s say it becomes a success and costs 30 lire. And you go to a second edition in a week and the price jumps to 35 lire,” Hepkon told AFP.
“So for the third or fourth impression, God only knows how much it will cost.”
– Pay the price- Turkey’s last official annual inflation rate in early December stood at 21%, a figure that opposition parties are underestimated by the state.
The upcoming January 3 report will almost certainly show a big bump as the implosion of the lira has inflated the price of energy and imported raw materials such as those needed for papermaking.
Johns Hopkins University professor of applied economics Steve Hanke calculates Turkey’s current annual inflation rate at over 80%.
Turkish Publishers Association chairman Kenan Kocaturk said disruptions to the global supply chain caused by the coronavirus pandemic have contributed to his industry’s problems by increasing the price of unbleached pulp.
Turkey imports the raw material because its own paper factories were privatized and then largely shut down.
“Only two of them continue production while the others’ machines have been scrapped and their land has been sold,” Kocaturk said.
“Turkey is paying the price for not seeing paper as a strategic asset.”
– Resistance- Publishers are already trying to minimize the risk by planning to publish fewer books in the coming year.
The Heretik publishing house says it will not print some books “because of the rising exchange rate and the extraordinary increase in the cost of paper.”
The editor-in-chief of the Aras publishing house, Rober Koptas, expressed concern that the printers represented a voice of ideological “resistance” in Turkey.
“Almost all the press speaks with the same voice and the universities are silenced,†Koptas said.
“But culture is just as important as food, and perhaps more so as there is a need for educated people to deal with economic problems,” added Hepkon of Kirmizi Kedi.
Passionate readers like Ibrahim Ozcay say the crisis is already preventing them from buying their favorite books for friends.
“I was told that the book I want now costs 38 lire. I bought it for 24 lire,†Ozcay said.
“They say it’s due to the lack of paper on the market, which doesn’t surprise me. Everything in Turkey is imported now,” he fumed.
She found the second copy of the same two-volume set that sold months later in her Istanbul bookstore for 70 lire (around $ 6 at the latest exchange rate).
The jump illustrates the debilitating unpredictability of the economic crisis that is raging in Turkey on almost every facet of daily life, from shopping to education and culture.
Publishers fear it will also kill an industry that offers a rare voice for diversity in a country where most of the media obey the socially conservative government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“I’m a doctoral student in international relations, so I have to read a lot. I spend almost 1,000 lire a month on books on my reading list, even though I also download from the Internet,†Ulas said.
“Book prices are skyrocketing.
– The essentials on books – The Turkish lira industry almost entirely dependent on paper imports highlights one flaw in the economic experiment Erdogan has unleashed against his country of 84 million people in recent months.
Erdogan tore up the rulebook of economics by orchestrating sharp interest rate cuts in an attempt to bring down chronically rising consumer prices.
Economists find it hard to remember the last time a large country did something similar, as it is widely assumed that cheap loans cause inflation, not cure it.
Turks’ fears of further erosion of their purchasing power prompted a surge in purchases of gold and dollars that wiped out nearly half the value of the lira in a matter of weeks.
Accelerating losses forced Erdogan last week to announce further measures to support the currency backed by seemingly heavy exchange rate interventions that managed to erase much of the decline.
Few economists see it as a long-term solution. Lira now regularly gains or loses five percent of its value per day.
Kirmizi Kedi publishing house owner Haluk Hepkon says he fears all this uncertainty “will force people to prioritize buying essentials and putting books aside “.
“You publish a book, and let’s say it becomes a success and costs 30 lire. And you go to a second edition in a week and the price jumps to 35 lire,” Hepkon told AFP.
“So for the third or fourth impression, God only knows how much it will cost.”
– Pay the price- Turkey’s last official annual inflation rate in early December stood at 21%, a figure that opposition parties are underestimated by the state.
The upcoming January 3 report will almost certainly show a big bump as the implosion of the lira has inflated the price of energy and imported raw materials such as those needed for papermaking.
Johns Hopkins University professor of applied economics Steve Hanke calculates Turkey’s current annual inflation rate at over 80%.
Turkish Publishers Association chairman Kenan Kocaturk said disruptions to the global supply chain caused by the coronavirus pandemic have contributed to his industry’s problems by increasing the price of unbleached pulp.
Turkey imports the raw material because its own paper factories were privatized and then largely shut down.
“Only two of them continue production while the others’ machines have been scrapped and their land has been sold,” Kocaturk said.
“Turkey is paying the price for not seeing paper as a strategic asset.”
– Resistance- Publishers are already trying to minimize the risk by planning to publish fewer books in the coming year.
The Heretik publishing house says it will not print some books “because of the rising exchange rate and the extraordinary increase in the cost of paper.”
The editor-in-chief of the Aras publishing house, Rober Koptas, expressed concern that the printers represented a voice of ideological “resistance” in Turkey.
“Almost all the press speaks with the same voice and the universities are silenced,†Koptas said.
“But culture is just as important as food, and perhaps more so as there is a need for educated people to deal with economic problems,” added Hepkon of Kirmizi Kedi.
Passionate readers like Ibrahim Ozcay say the crisis is already preventing them from buying their favorite books for friends.
“I was told that the book I want now costs 38 lire. I bought it for 24 lire,†Ozcay said.
“They say it’s due to the lack of paper on the market, which doesn’t surprise me. Everything in Turkey is imported now,” he fumed.