In a speech he made in 1993, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a tea-simit calculation and described the government as “with cruelty” accusing him of being a criminal.
The equation that day was simple:
1 tea + 1 bagel = 20 liras.
This simple calculation convinced millions.
There have been believers.
The believers had three children.
33 years have passed.
Let us now look at the same calculation from today's perspective.
This time our unit of measurement is not the street.
shares of state-owned Simit Sarayı.
Tea for 55 TL,
Bagels for 25 TL...
I would like to thank the friend who documented this picture. He has got the pulse right on the spot.
Now let's do the math again.
But this time with facts, not slogans.
Consider a family of five.
Three meals a day, just tea and bagels.
Daily 1.200 TL
Monthly: 36.000 TL
And what are the revenues?
Lowest pension: 20.000 TL
Minimum wage 28.075 TL
Now I ask the same question that Mr. Erdoğan asked in 1993, I ask him today:
Does this administration not even consider a cup of tea and a bagel worthy of this beloved nation?
Even if people only eat tea and bagels;
Who will pay the rent?
Who will pay for electricity, water, gas, internet?
Who will pay for the child's school fees, shoes, notebooks?
Shame on those who condemn the people to tea and bagels.
But wait...
This is where another favorite account of the imitation palace comes into play.
I intervene and I say:
My friend who drinks tea for 55 liras and eats a bagel for 25 liras...
Don't worry!
Life is not like that.
Reis is thinking of you.
There is a simple but “clever” solution.
Do you smoke?
Yes?
See
Did Reis fight smoking for nothing?
Two packs of cigarettes a day:
Daily 200 TL
Monthly: 6.000 TL
Annual: 72.000 TL
In 10 years: TL 720,000
A small fortune in today's money!
So it's not about hunger...
It's not about livelihood...
It's not about poverty!
You are the problem.
Because you smoke.
If tea is expensive,
If bagels are expensive,
Rents have skyrocketed,
If the salary is not enough
The solution is very clear:
You won't drink.
You won't eat.
You will not live.
The advice is already ready:
“You are not rich by what you eat, but by what you do not eat and drink.”
This is the New Turkey Model.
Not prosperity, but renunciation.
Not abundance, patience.
The palace is real, welfare is imitation.
The tea and bagel bill is still on the table...
But this time the public pays the bill,
He enjoys his imitation palace.
And the numbers don't lie:
Minimum wage for 2026: 28.075 TL
Hunger limit for a family of four: 30.143 TL
Poverty line 98.188 TL
Cost of living for a single worker: 39.123 TL
The minimum wage has already fallen below the hunger threshold in the first month of the year.
But it's okay.
The solution is clear.
Don't eat.
Don't drink.
And don't overdo living.
The tea and bagel account is not closed.
Only the government has changed.