Economic hardship has long been measured through the humble simit -— the sesame-covered circular bread sometimes called the Turkish bagel. Now the ruling AKP is being accused of shrinking even that symbol. Once used by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to show that a family could not afford a single simit and tea with the minimum wage, the calculation has taken a new turn: a simit divided into three.
Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan was filmed tearing one simit into three pieces to serve to retirees.
The footage, recorded during a housing lottery draw in the Black Sea province of Ordu, shows Işıkhan interacting with elderly citizens, tearing a single simit into three portions before handing them to the retirees. Later, the AKP’s provincial head Samet Özdemir shared a video, showing himself handing out whole simits.
The 'simit and tea' calculation was first used by Erdoğan in 1993. At the time, as the Istanbul provincial chair of the Refah (Welfare) Party, Erdoğan criticized the government of the era by calculating that a family of five could not afford even a basic diet of tea and simit with the minimum wage. Following this attack, Erdoğan won the 1994 elections in Istanbul.
PARLIAMENTARY PROTEST AND THE 'SIMIT-TEA' MATH
The main opposition CHP seized on the incident in Ordu.
“The labor minister has exposed the reality of this country,” CHP Group Deputy Chair Ali Mahir Başarır said in Parliament. “He didn't even give half a simit; he gave it in three pieces. Because he knows that if a retired family of four tries to eat simit and tea, they have to divide it.” Başarır brought a simit to the podium in the main assembly, divided it, and distributed the pieces to the AKP benches.
A 'POLITICAL SCANDAL' AMID RISING INFLATION
The incident was widely covered in the opposition press as a metaphor for the government's economic policies. Writing for the news site T24, columnist Yalçın Doğan described the scene as the 'photograph of the year.'
“The labor minister clarifies the dream... He divides a single simit into three and shares it among three retirees. He doesn't even give them one each!” Doğan wrote. He added that while the act was a “political scandal,” it also reflected the harsh reality for millions. “It is the photo of the year describing the government's view of the retiree alongside inflation.”
