Robin Hood: Mystery patron pays off debts of Istanbul's poorest people

An unknown patron has been going to the poor neighbourhoods in the city of Istanbul and paying off debts of the needy at various grocery stores and leaving envelops full of money at people's doorsteps at a time when rising living costs have been blamed for being one of the main reasons for people committing suicide. According to reports, the people living in Tuzla, a shipbuilding district, were really happy when they found out that an unnamed man had cleared off all their shopping dues in various grocery stores.

'Call me Robin Hood'

An owner of one of the grocery shops where the benefactor has cleared people's shopping bills, Coskun Yilmaz, said that an unknown man came in and asked him to show the customer's register where he maintained all the debts. 

The owner stated that he told the benefactor that there were four people who had large amounts of debt and he told the man where they lived. The man came back again to the store and paid off all their debts. Yilmaz said that when he asked the man his name, he replied by saying that just call be robin hood.

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According to reports, the 'Robin Hood' has been leaving behind envelops full of money amounting to 1,000 Lira (local currency) which he has been leaving at people's doorsteps in different working-class neighbourhoods across the city alongside paying off debts amounting to 25,000 Lira. 

Another grocery store owner, Tuncay Yasar, stated that the man came in to pay off the debts of those who could not afford to pay it off. Yasar said that he has been living in Tuzla for three decades and it was for the first time that someone committed such a generous act.

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A dire situation in Turkey

Turkey has been plagued with recent incidents of suicides being committed by families due to a steep rise in food prices and house rents after the Turkish currency crashed in the year 2018 and because of that, the inflation dropped to 8.6% from a 25%.
However, Turkey's pro-government officials have negated that rising incidents of suicide is linked to rising poverty in the country. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was punished by the country's voters for the economic crisis in the elections, the first major check on the Recep Tayyip Erdogan's power.

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(With inputs from agencies)