AP. 30 August 2001. Turkish Show Is Reality TV. ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- In a new twist to reality television, a Turkish show is pitting two middle class couples against each other to see who can survive on the country's paltry minimum wage of $84 a month. Contestant Engin Ozden walks for four hours each day from the studio to work to save 35 cents in bus fare. His competitors, Hikmet and Suzan Kocaibrahimoglu, eat stale bread and sit under a street lamp at night to conserve electricity. They have each lost about 20 pounds since the show started Aug. 1. Suzan Kocaibrahimoglu hasn't used deodorant in a month. "It is impossible to live on this money," said Suzan Kocaibrahimoglu. "It is a kind of torture." But the show, broadcast daily on private Channel D television, is reality for hundreds of thousands of Turkish families struggling to make ends meet on a minimum wage that loses value almost every week as the Turkish lira plummets against the dollar. Since the start of a February financial crisis, the lira has lost about half its worth. Half of the country's 65 million people live on a monthly income of less than $200, far below the poverty line of $474 a month for a family of four. The couples' televised struggle has made them heroes to many Turks, who have long felt that they have been suffering in silence and are being ignored by politicians who many believe are corrupt and the cause of the financial crisis. "They are like one of us, same difficulties, same misery," said Fikri Tektas, a janitor working in a building near the studio. Hikmet Kocaibrahimoglu said he has received dozens of phone calls thanking him for dramatizing the nation's struggle. People have also approached him in the street to shake his hand. They say "we are supporting you because you are showing our difficulties," Hikmet Kocaibrahimoglu said. As part of the daily 30-minute show, the two couples live in apartments filled with cameras and microphones. When they go out for work, a camera crew follows them. Both couples buy stale bread for 3 1/2 cents a loaf, one-third of the normal price, and carry free water in buckets from a nearby mosque to save on utility bills. "It is really difficult and requires lots of sacrifice," said Hikmet Kocaibrahimoglu. Even a 17-cent ice cream cone is a luxury, he said. The couple who spends the least money during the month without exceeding the minimum wage will win a car, $17,250 in cash, and a one week trip to Europe. "They are lucky. Most Turks are stuck with minimum wage for life, and there is no award awaiting them," said Menekse Yucel, an unemployed secretary looking for a job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
