Turkey today is not a country with an economic growth story, it is a country with a debt story standing on its feet. Moreover, this debt is no longer just a matter of the Treasury, banks or corporate balance sheets; it has now directly collapsed into the kitchens, wallets and psychology of citizens. As the saying goes, we owe money to every bird in the sky is no metaphor: In this country the state is in debt, the nation is in debt, municipalities are in debt, the private sector is in debt.
The numbers are cold but the facts are sobering. Approximately 65-66 million of Turkey's adult population is made up of adults, and approximately of this group, i.e. 42-43 million people, are in debt to banks. In other words, two out of every three adults face the end of the month with a loan installment, a card statement or an interest burden. The total volume of personal debt has reached 5.3 trillion TL. The average burden on each indebted adult is between 100-125 thousand TL.
The mother lode of this indebtedness is credit cards. 39 million people, i.e. approximately of adults, carry credit card debt. Total card debt is close to 2 trillion TL. What is even more serious is this: of debtors try to roll over their debt by paying only the minimum amount. In other words, the debt is not paid, it is sustained; it grows exponentially with interest. This is not a financing model, but a clear cycle of poverty.
The picture is not bright on the housing side either. The proportion of households using mortgages in Turkey is still around %9. In 2024, only .7 of the houses sold were mortgaged; in 2025, this ratio increased to -15. In other words, owning a house is still a dream for the vast majority, but those who are able to achieve this dream live with debt chains for many years.
Vehicle loans constitute a smaller slice: only %2 of personal loans. Approximately 800 thousand - 1 million people use car loans. In Turkey, cars are still mostly bought in cash or through informal financing, as official loan rates are out of reach for the masses.
The heaviest part of the picture is revealed in the enforcement files. There are a total of 23-25 million enforcement and bankruptcy files in Turkey. The number of real persons behind these files is approximately 3.8-4 million. This shows that %5.8-6.2 of the adult population can no longer repay their debts, and that one in every 16-17 adults lives under the threat of foreclosure. Debt is no longer a temporary nuisance here; it is becoming a permanent social catastrophe.
Farmers and small shopkeepers are among those who feel this debt burden the heaviest. The picture in agriculture is dramatic: Farmers' debts to banks and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives exceed 800 billion TL by 2025. While the number of indebted farmers is approaching 3 million, most of them are trying to roll over their debts with new debts. While diesel, fertilizer, seed and electricity costs are doubling, product prices are suppressed; as a result, farmers are trying to escape from debt rather than production.
A similar squeeze is being experienced by tradesmen. Bank loans and credit card debts of small and medium-sized tradesmen have reached the trillion TL limit. High interest rates, falling demand and increasing rent-tax burden are forcing shopkeepers to constantly borrow in order to survive. Each shuttered shop is an indication that not only a business, but also the local economy and employment are being crushed under debt.
In order to read this debt spiral correctly, we need to look at the difference before and after 2002. Before 2002, Turkey's main debtor was not the citizen but the state itself; personal loans were limited, credit cards were not widespread and the ratio of household debt to national income was around %2-3. After 2002, on the other hand, debt changed hands from top to bottom: while state balance sheets were relatively recovered, society was systematically indebted.
Credit cards and consumer loans have become indispensable in daily life, household debt has exceeded percent of national income. Today, the problem is no longer ’state debt“ but the economic and social vulnerability of millions of citizens who are forced to survive on debt.
At this point it is necessary to ask: Why are these debts so widespread? Because there is no income growth in Turkey, no purchasing power, no savings. People do not consume luxury by borrowing; they live by borrowing. Credit cards are not used for vacations, but for groceries; personal loans are not used for investment, but for bills.
Moreover, the debt spiral is not limited to individuals. The state is indebted, budget deficits are chronic. Municipalities are indebted and dependent on credit and central government to produce services. The private sector is indebted, especially in foreign currency, increasing vulnerability. When all actors of the economy are in debt at the same time, this is no longer a cyclical problem; it is a signal of structural collapse.
The year 2026 will be a heavy year not only for individuals and businesses, but also for the state budget. According to the financing program of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the state's domestic debt service (principal + interest) in 2026 is planned to be around 5 trillion TL, while the external debt service is planned to be around 948 billion TL; in other words, a total debt service of almost 6 trillion TL is expected to be paid. While most of this burden goes to interest and principal payments on domestic debt, foreign debt payments also create a significant foreign exchange burden. This picture reveals that debt is not only reflected in national income, but also in the Turkish economy at an increasing cost every year.
Today, the Turkish economy is sustained not by production but by debt; not by prosperity but by credit; not by hope but by deferred installments. This is not sustainable. Financial literacy is of course important, but the issue has long gone beyond whether the individual is “conscious” or not. The real problem is the economic choices that condemn citizens to a system that cannot live without debt.
To summarize: In this country, debt has become a social destiny, not an individual flaw.
Today, the phrase "we owe money to every bird in the sky" is not a phrase; it is a balance sheet. And this balance sheet calls for an urgent political accounting.
No one can escape the continuation of this debt system. The government must stop marketing keeping the country afloat with debt as a success story; it is directly responsible for these policies that condemn citizens to credit cards, farmers to be shackled by cooperative interest, and tradesmen to be dragged to the bank gates.
The main opposition, on the other hand, cannot watch this destruction from afar and buy time with the promise of “in the first election”; it has to clearly say with which concrete steps it will destroy this debt-driven system, how it will alleviate whose debts and with which resources it will revive production.
Those who remain silent in the face of the debt spiral, those who postpone it, and those who delay it are all partners in this picture. Turkey's problem is not the existence of debt, but a political understanding that accepts debt as fate. If this order does not change, debt will not only affect the economy, democracy will continue to be mortgaged.