by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha is approaching, it will not be easy for cash-strapped Turks to accomplish their religious duty of animal sacrifice amid an inflation-induced cost-of-living crisis.
In the outskirts of the capital Ankara's Cankaya district, clients and livestock owners are engaged in noisy haggling under the summer heat in an open-air sacrificial animal market.
Animals will be ritually sacrificed at the Eid festival, with the meat distributed to family, friends and charities.
This year, Türkiye's livestock market has seen a hike in sacrificial animal prices due to rampant inflation.
Battal Akkas, who came to the fair from the northern province of Amasya to sell his fine-looking and well-fed Simmental cows, said that livestock prices were surging.
"People who come here to buy an animal are complaining about the high prices," the breeder said, adding that the price of a cow has increased from 42,000 Turkish liras (1,782 U.S. dollars) to 110,000 liras since the last Eid festival.
This is because the cost of animal feed has quadrupled and the transportation cost has tripled, he said.
The clients' complaints are similar despite inflation having weakened to less than 40 percent in May from a peak of 85 percent in October 2022.
"Prices this year are steep ... Their (breeders') costs have gone up dramatically and they have to reflect that on their prices, but we are also on a budget," Ramazan Toga said.
The middle-aged musician said that every year he strives to perform the rite of livestock sacrifice, but this time it became challenging because "the cost-of-living crisis is affecting everyone."
Temel Bicer, a sheep breeder from the eastern province of Kars, suggested the government ramp up the wages of workers and pensioners to support declining purchasing power.
"There is a significant decline in the purchasing power of our clients and as our costs went up, we face a challenge," Bicer said.
According to economist Velsel Ulusoy, the price of red meat has doubled since the start of the year partly because Türkiye imports cattle to meet domestic needs.
In an article published in Cumhuriyet Daily on Sunday, Ulusoy pointed out that the depreciation of the Turkish currency has made imports more expensive than before.
The lira has shed over 80 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of 2022.
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his new economic team's priority following his re-election in May is to cut inflation to single digits from its current level.
"We will cut inflation to single digits. That will be the priority of the new economy team," he stressed in a meeting with exporters.
The festival will start on June 28. The Eid al-Adha holiday has been extended to nine days this year instead of the traditional four days in Türkiye.
