Which is cheaper living in Damascus or in Istanbul?

The Istanbul-based Syria TV published a report comparing the prices of some commodities in Damascus and Istanbul, to conclude that the average prices in the Syrian capital are higher than those in Istanbul, despite the difference in average wages between the two cities.

 

The minimum wage in Turkey for 2022 amounted to 4253 Turkish liras (approximately $289), while the minimum wage in the Syrian regime-controlled areas for the same year amounted to about 94 thousand Syrian pounds ($23), according to the exchange rates.

 

On a tour of the "Syria TV" website in the markets of the capital, Damascus, it was observed that the average prices of foodstuffs used on Syrian tables at the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan are not fixed.

But most of the goods in Turkey are cheaper than Damascus, where the "Syria TV" website monitored the prices of goods in Istanbul (the prices are close to most Turkish states), the economic capital of Turkey, where more than half a million Syrians live.

 

Syria TV said that it was surprising that the tourist city of Istanbul, which is visited annually by more than 12 million tourists (according to the 2019 official figures), the average prices in it are cheaper than Damascus, which is almost not visited by tourists since the tourism season stopped in light of the Assad regime's tampering with the war machine against the Syrian people Since 2011.

 

 A woman who lives in the Sheikh Saad neighborhood in the Mazzeh district told "Syria TV" that "the residents of Damascus are in an unenviable position before Ramadan, now prices have increased more than they were just two weeks ago."

 

Adding that "the Syrians are not waiting for any solutions soon, because they have lost hope in everything. 

The regime officials are all in a good economic situation, the electricity is not cut off in their homes, and they do not know anything about the high prices, because they have not visited the markets not once, said the woman who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

Many people will break their fast with water, dates and a crumb of bread, and they will eagerly wait for aid, stressing that the remittances that came from abroad have greatly decreased to everyone you know, because those abroad also suffer, especially in recent years and the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic and new wars.

Some commodities are missing from the market, such as flour, which we rely heavily on in many of our foods, and of course there are many other missing items such as gas and diesel, and sometimes sugar and rice, a state of disgust in which the people of Levant live these days, residents say.

 

 

On the other hand, Shadi Salem, who works in a sewing workshop in Istanbul, said, "Life has changed in Turkey recently. There is an inflation in prices every few days. I live here with my mother, father and little sister, and we find it difficult to secure our supplies every month because of the high prices, especially that we have to rent a house and my father and I work in the same workshop for the minimum wage.”

 

Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the largest refugee population in the world, and Erdogan said it was taking steps with some difficulty to prevent another wave from crossing its border.

Salem added in his interview with "Syria TV Website", "My brother is still in Damascus until now and is facing enormous hardship, and we send him a small amount to help him buy the basics."

 

He pointed out, "Those who live in Damascus think that prices in Istanbul are more expensive, but the reality is that despite all the inflation that Turkey witnessed there are still some cheaper goods, but in Syria the situation is more difficult, especially with the loss of foodstuffs from the market or monopolizing it by traders to raise its price with the difference in the exchange of the dollar.

 

Salem believes that living in Istanbul, with all its economic pressures, is thousands of times better than living in Damascus. "First, you are here to a large extent in safety, and no one will arrest you, and all services are available, but in Syria it is correct to say (the prices are Switzerland, but the living is Somalia)" Although I think that the situation in Somalia is more stable and secure than in Syria.”

The Syrian revolution that turned into a bloody conflict has claimed 500,000 lives and has displaced 13,2 million people since it erupted in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests.