Shocking price jump in Turkish onions makes voters' eyes water
The price of onions, the quintessential Turkish staple, has shot up days before Turkey's parliamentary and presidential elections, sparking outrage that may benefit the opposition and feeding conspiracy theories left and right.
Onions are the staple of most Turkish dishes and if one is poor, together with a loaf of bread, one can constitute a meal. Thus news that the price of onions has skyrocketed to seven liras ($1.5) per kilo serves as handy ammunition for the country’s opposition ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary and presidential elections.
The anti-government leftist daily Cumhuriyet posted footage of disgruntled customers at an open air market who left empty handed because prices “burned” their hands. “I will have to cook without onions and just imagine their aroma,” said one. A vendor fumed, “It's incomprehensible. [The government’s] agriculture policy has failed.”
