EU and TURKEY In a recently done research study, people in Turkey and the people in the EU countries were compared in their contentment and their concerns and hopes about the future. The results demonstrated that Turkish people were much less optimistic about their lives and the future. People become content or discontent with their lives depending on many circumstances. Purchasing power and living conditions are the main factors affecting the happiness of citizens in a country. The first reason for the Turkish people to be pessimistic is the low purchasing power of the people in our country. It is, in fact, such a big problem for Turkey that some people even suffer from hunger. Although the government proclaims that the inflation rate, which has been very high for the last three decades, has been decreasing, people are not satisfied because they cannot see any difference in their lives, or changes which should be observed following a drop in the rate of inflation. Living conditions, which are very poor in Turkey, affect the contentment of the people significantly. In EU countries the people know that if something bad happens to them, like having important health problems or losing their jobs, the government will not let them down and they will at least be able to look after themselves. However, in Turkey there is no such confidence because everybody knows that they are all by themselves and there is nobody to help them. There are people dying in hospitals just because they do not have enough money and people suffering from hunger after working all their lives for the government. -------------------------------------------------
We can see that there are really big differences between the lives of the Turkish people and the people in the EU countries. It is obvious that Turkish people are right in being pessimistic about the future when we consider their standard of living.