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Turkey by Numbers45 (percent): The vote President (then Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) won in Soma in the March 30 local elections. 301: The number of miners who died in Soma in the tragic accident in May (after which this columnist predicted that Mr. Erdoğan would perform better in Soma). 47 (percent): The vote Mr. Erdoğan won in Soma in the presidential election on Aug. 10. 42 (percent): The vote Mr. Erdoğan's AKP won in the Kilimli district (in Zonguldak) in the municipal elections in 2009. 30: The number of miners who died in a tragic accident at the Karadon coal mine in the Kilimli district. 47 (percent): The vote Mr. Erdoğan won in the Kilimli district in the presidential election on Aug. 10. 1,414: The number of Turks who died in workplace accidents in the first nine months of 2014. 2,709: The number of Turks who died in road accidents in the first nine months of 2014. 1: Turkey's ranking in fatal workplace accidents in Europe. 3: Turkey's ranking in fatal workplace accidents in the world. 50 (percent): The vote the AKP won in local elections in Ermenek (Karaman) in March 2014. 18: The number of workers trapped in a coal mine in Ermenek on Oct. 28, with virtually no hope for their survival. 50 (percent): The minimum vote the AKP will win in parliamentary elections in Ermenek in June 2015 (this columnist's guess). 900 ($): Total government benefit for each family of the victims in Ermenek. 18: The number of apple grove workers who died after a bus that was carrying them fell into a ditch. 46: The number of workers in the bus during the accident. 24: The maximum number of passengers the bus was allowed to carry. 14 ($): The daily wage at the apple groves where the workers hoped to reach for the day's bread. 13.7 (in millions of euros): The funds Turkey's Interior Ministry will spend to buy 65 new anti-riot water-cannon trucks. 199.5 (in millions of Turkish Liras): Former President Abdullah Gül's 2014 budget allocations. 397 (in millions of liras): President Erdoğan's 2015 budget allocations. 99 (percent): The annual 2014/2015 increase in the presidential budget. 3 (percent): The annual 2014/2015 salary rise for government workers and pensioners. 615 (in millions of dollars): The cost to the Turkish taxpayer for Mr. Erdoğan's controversial new presidential palace, as revealed by Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek. 185 (in millions of dollars): The cost to the Turkish taxpayer for the new presidential jet. 4.5 (in billions of dollars): The amount of Turkish taxpayers' money the government says it has spent for over 1.5 million Syrian refugees since the break of civil war there. 5.4 (in billions of dollars): The amount of funds donors pledged at a conference in Cairo last month for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. 200 (in millions of dollars): The amount of money Turkey, the global champion of the "Palestinian cause," pledged at the donors' conference for the reconstruction of Gaza. 10 (percent): Turks who have a pessimistic opinion about their lives in the next five years, according to Pew's Global Trends Project. 62 (percent): Turks who have an optimistic opinion about their lives in the next five years, according to the Pew survey. 81 (percent): Bangladeshis who have an optimistic opinion about their lives in the next five years, according to Pew. Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a columnist for the Turkish daily Hürriyet and a fellow at the Middle East Forum. |
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