Van is one of the provinces hit hardest by the economic crisis, and women are seriously affected by this situation.

The ongoing deep economic crisis in Turkey continues to affect most citizens. Due to the economic crisis, hundreds of thousands of workplaces were closed and millions of people were left unemployed. Van, Hakkari, Bitlis and Ağrı were the poorest cities in 2022. Women are among those most affected by the economic crisis.

Saime Erbil and her family moved to Bostaniçi in İpekyolu (province of Van) two years ago. She earns her living by looking after animals.

Looking after a family of 11 with the animals she feeds

Saime Erbil is trying to support her family with her 5 cows. Her husband and children are unemployed, said Erbil, adding that "there is no work force, the children are unemployed. We look after cows, we sell their milk, we make and sell the cheese we produce. We lived in the village before, but we had to come here because my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and my daughter are ill. Livestock is a very difficult business and requires a lot of effort. We're trying to support 11 people by looking after these animals.”

Life in the city is very hard

Erbil said that they are trying to make use of everything from the animals. “We are now collecting the manure where the animals stay in the winter. We remove some of it to prepare for the winter, we use it for heating in stoves. I use the other part as fertilizer from the garden. We look after them, they look after us. We take good care of the animals, so they are useful to us for many things. This is our job. If we weren’t doing this, we wouldn’t know how to survive. Life in the city is very difficult. We cannot live without working. The crisis arrived and no one could make a living anymore. Life used to be beautiful. We went to the highlands in our villages. We had sheep. We were riding horses. Life was so beautiful. But now we can only look after a few cows here. And we are making a living with these animals.”