Anti-poverty policies in the context of 2030 sustainable development goals: An evaluation from Türkiye's perspective

Poverty, which is the inability of people to meet their basic needs or to reach a socio-economically acceptable standard of living, is one of the important problems that underdeveloped and developed countries seek solutions to today as in the past. The problem of poverty is caused by demographic, economic, socio-cultural and political reasons. Poverty brings about devastating consequences for the welfare, health, education and security of individuals and thus societies. In order to protect and ensure human rights and dignity, to establish social justice and to support sustainable development, the fight against poverty is considered as a fundamental task of countries as well as supranational organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The first and most important of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 and serve as a global road map for member countries for a more livable world, is 'ending poverty'. In this study, the current situation of poverty and anti-poverty policies in Turkey are presented and the effectiveness of the anti-poverty policies pursued in Turkey in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals is evaluated. In Turkey, the fight against poverty is included as a policy in the Seventh Development Plan. Direct approach (employment policies, income-increasing policies and social aids) and indirect approach (economic growth, improvement of income distribution and tax policies) have been adopted in the fight against poverty. As a result of the policies and programmes implemented, there has been a downward trend in the number of poor people and poverty rate in Turkey as in the world. However, the Covid-19 Pandemic, which started to affect the world at the end of 2019, reversed the gains achieved in poverty reduction. In particular, the realisation of the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 has been hindered to a great extent both in the world and in Turkey. In order for Turkey to be successful in the fight against poverty, it is important to implement social supports and economic policies effectively, to empower disadvantaged groups and to increase international cooperation in the fight against poverty, as well as to regularly monitor and evaluate the policies and programmes implemented.