Today in History – 1 October

A warning to war profiteers

World War II had a devastating impact on economic life in Turkey. During this period, the rate of growth stopped altogether and prices of goods skyrocketed due to increasing state expenses and the shortage of staple products. This led to the emergence of a black market; great speculative price movements occurred on food products in particular.

Although the “Law of National Protection” enacted on January 18, 1940 granted extraordinary authority to the government, it still could not prevent black marketeering, which, in turn, gave way to the emergence of a group of people that were easily made wealthy by war. The speech İsmet İnönü delivered on October 1, 1942 was an expression of the frustration both the nation and the people felt:

A senseless conduct of commerce and a curse of costliness, which exceeds any justification, are ravaging our entire nation.

We must painfully remember that that our society has not contributed, in the last two years, towards the government’s efforts to coordinate and distribute provisions to the public.

Some former fraudulent farm heads, who consider these troubled times a golden opportunity, insatiable, profiteer merchants, who will even try to commercialize the air we breathe if they can, and a handful of politicians, who regard these challenges a perfect chance to achieve their political ambitions and work for God knows which foreign country, have all try arrogantly to sabotage the entire life of a great nation.