"A shopping bag that used to be filled for 70 TL now costs 400 TL"

Former speaker of the Turkish National Assembly Bulent Arinc, continued his criticism of the government over the country's economic situation and the moral decline in religious people’s practices.

"If the shopping bag that you used to fill up for 70 TL can now only be filled up for 400 TL, then there is something wrong my friend, and we cannot ignore it... At the end of the day, they blamed the crisis on the supermarkets. Don't fall for it, this issue is not that simple. The reason for this is cost inflation. As costs go up, so do the prices of these things," Arinc said during an interview on Elips TV.

Arinc said that in a country where milk-producing cows are slaughtered, it is inevitable for prices to increase due to inflation caused by rising costs.

Arinc also noted the decrease in the number of people who fast during Ramadan and attend night prayers, indicating a "secularization" trend in Turkey. He suggested that the trend could be related to the education system, visual media, and a desire for a more luxurious and secular lifestyle, but also warned that when religiosity loses its morality, it becomes a mere formality, adding that the politicization of religion is also a significant factor in the decline of religious practices.

Bulent Arinc was a founding member of Turkey’s ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) and played a significant role in the party's rise to power. He had many ministerial positions during his political career.

However, in recent years, Arinc has been increasingly critical of the AKP and its leadership. He has publicly voiced his concerns about the party's direction and the policies of President Erdogan, which has caused tensions between him and the AKP leadership.

In 2019, Arinc was expelled from the party's executive board to his critical comments.