Osman Şenkul
In the 5th century BC, while Crete was a centre of civilisation on one of the two large islands in the southern Aegean Sea, Rhodes was a stronghold for pirates; for centuries, the island’s pirates struck fear into the hearts of sailors. Although piracy was somewhat curbed after the Knights of Rhodes (later the Knights of Malta) took control of the island in the 14th century, merchant ships still suffered significant attacks from time to time.
There was no significant settlement on Rhodes. The large harbour and the surrounding area where the present-day city of Rhodes stands consisted mainly of shelters for those involved in shipbuilding and those providing logistical support to pirates. Behind the harbour, in the interior of the island, there were also small villages where pirates and families engaged in agricultural production and animal husbandry lived. Although almost everyone knew that the pirates were Rhodians, the fact that the attacks were carried out far from the island and that it was never used as a refuge ensured that the homeland always remained safe.
The Rhodian pirates launched their attacks on merchant fleets not from this large island, but from bases on smaller, deserted islands or in secluded coves on the mainland that were suitable for hiding. The loot was first accumulated in these remote centres and then transported to Rhodes. Like the colonisations of the Greek and Phoenician central authorities, the pirates also colonised in order to establish such bases of attack; in other words, a kind of ‘hit-and-run’ tactic required remote places of refuge.
The founding of the city of Phaselis was also the result of such colonisation. One of the most significant features of Phaselis, an ancient city and open-air museum located near present-day Antalya Kemer, is that it is the oldest city with three harbours. The best-preserved harbour was used for military purposes, while the largest was used for commercial purposes. The smallest harbour was a shelter for small fishing and transport boats.
In addition to these harbours, which are still standing, the ‘monument’ that clearly shows that Adrianus, who built a ‘gate’ named after himself wherever he went, did not neglect Phaselis, is also still standing. Furthermore, Phaselis still has a theatre large enough to accommodate almost every Phaselis resident and their guests, as well as an agora where needs such as shopping, meetings, walking and chatting are met.
The golden age of pirates, who plundered Mediterranean trade fleets with their ships made from the giant cedar trees of Palestine and Lebanon (cedar is still the symbol of the Lebanese flag), lasted until the late Ottoman period. After Pericles came to power in Athens, the dispatch of one or more military ships alongside merchant fleets also accelerated the colonisation of pirates. Once the protection of merchant ships began, pirates either failed or, even if they could plunder merchant fleets, were captured before reaching the nearest safe haven.
In response to these developments, pirates began searching for bays in southern Anatolia that could serve as safe havens. During these searches, they discovered this region with three bays, where the city of Phaselis was later founded. This region, which from the open sea did not reveal the ships sheltering in its bays, and which was also safe from land due to the forested Western Taurus Mountains behind it, greatly appealed to the Rhodian pirates, who immediately decided to settle here and establish a base.
However, when the pirates came ashore, they realised that the situation was not as easy as they had imagined. Because as soon as they set foot on land, they were confronted by an Anatolian shepherd. Claiming to be the owner of the entire region, the shepherd said he would not allow the pirates to settle there.
After assessing the situation, the pirates decided that they could not get out of this predicament by killing the shepherd and seizing the area. Such an action would lead to the tribes on land joining forces with their enemies at sea. As this situation did not suit the pirates, who were very inexperienced in land warfare, they decided to resolve the issue peacefully.
Returning to shore, the pirate delegation asked the shepherd to sell them the area. As there was no currency at that time, the pirates offered salted fish, which they had in abundance on their ships and used to meet their nutritional needs during long voyages, in exchange for the large forested coves. The shepherd, whose livelihood depended on raising goats and sheep, agreed to accept the salted fish. A fierce bargaining ensued between the shepherd and the pirates, and they eventually reached an agreement on a specific quantity.
The shepherd, who took the fish that the pirates brought ashore and delivered, left the area to them, taking his animals with him. The pirates, happy to have gained possession of the area in exchange for what they considered a small amount of fish, said, ‘We have a “salty” shelter, which is very nice,’ meaning ‘very cheap.’ However, the agreed amount of salted fish was a ‘good price’ for the shepherd. Therefore, the word ‘salted,’ which meant ‘very cheap’ to the pirates, represented ‘very expensive’ from the shepherd’s perspective.
For that reason, this saying spread from the founding of Phaselis to the islands, primarily Rhodes and Crete, and then to southern Anatolia and eventually throughout all of Anatolia. However, as trade is a two-way street, relativity naturally came into play here too; the agreed quantity of fish represented a bargain for the Rhodian pirates, so on the islands, the phrase came to be used to indicate that something was cheap. Meanwhile, the shepherd had spread the word throughout Anatolia that he had sold the bays, which were of no use to him, at a considerable price. For this reason, on the Anatolian side, the phrase ‘tuzluya patladı’ (literally, ‘blew up salty’) has been used to mean ‘very expensive’ to this day.
In our civilisation today, which was founded on the developments that took place some 25 centuries ago, we are living in times that have gone far beyond those days, where all of life has become ‘tuzluya patlar’ (blew up salty).
According to the latest ‘Istanbul Barometer’ data published by the Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA), the cost of living in the megacity has surpassed yet another threshold. As of November, the average amount required for a family of four to meet their basic needs and sustain their livelihood in Istanbul was calculated to be 106,034 lira. Education was the item that saw the highest increase, rising by 100.7 percent on an annual basis. Research conducted by Türk-İş, based in Ankara, also found that the poverty line based solely on healthy and balanced nutrition rose to 29,828 lira, in other words, above the newly increased minimum wage (28,075 lira).
The Research and Development Unit of the United Public Workers’ Confederation (KAMUAR) announced the results of the December 2025 food price index, calculated based on a basket of 64 basic food items compiled from prices collected from chain stores with widespread branches across most of Turkey. According to the research, food prices increased by 1,508 percent during the period from September 2021 to December 2025, when Turkey entered a period of high inflation. The study found that average food prices in 2025 increased by 54 per cent compared to the annual average in 2024. Based on annual average prices, citizens had to pay an average of £1,540 in 2025 for a food basket that could be purchased for £1,000 in 2024. The uninterrupted upward trend in food prices continued in December. Food prices rose by 2.6 per cent in December compared to the previous month, while the increase compared to the same month last year was 44.5 percent. This brought the uninterrupted period of rising food prices to 67 months.
As can be seen, the fact that many necessities such as eating, drinking, entertainment and travel have become quite expensive in Turkey has led many people to seek out the “island bargain.” In particular, high food inflation has made the Greek islands cheaper than Turkey. When comparing holiday resorts on both sides of the Aegean Sea, many options, from Turkish coffee to doner kebabs, hamburgers to seafood, are offered at more affordable prices in Greece, despite the exchange rate difference. Consequently, reports indicating that a significant portion of domestic tourists prefer Greek islands over Turkish holiday resorts due to the price difference clearly illustrate this situation.
For example, even the €60 visa fee charged to Turkish citizens last summer failed to deter those fleeing Anatolia’s “salty prices,” and thousands flocked to Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Limnos, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, Symi, Rhodes, and Meis to access ‘Greek island salty prices.’
One of the most significant drivers of inflation in Turkey is food inflation, which ranks among the ‘top 7’ globally, alongside Bolivia, Malawi, Iran, South Sudan, Argentina, and Haiti; because the increasingly limited agricultural production is driving up prices, which naturally pushes the hunger threshold higher. For this reason, as is the case almost everywhere in the world, the President of the Turkish Chamber of Agriculture (TZOB), Şemsi Bayraktar, emphasises the need to support farmers in Turkey and warns them on this issue: ‘Our farmers are now much more exposed to natural disasters such as extreme heat, heavy rainfall, hail, storms, and frost, in addition to the ever-increasing production costs of inputs, logistics, and labour.’
However, our neighbour Greece is the world’s fifth largest producer of olives, the third largest producer of peaches, the nineteenth largest producer of grapes, the seventeenth largest producer of oranges, and the fifth largest producer of kiwis. Their “salty prices” are not only pleasing their own people, but also those fleeing the salty prices in Turkey.
In short, as we have repeatedly stated, the way to curb inflation is not through high interest rates, which make many areas of life even more difficult, but through increasing production in industry and agriculture as much as possible.