"Let them leave if they want to. We will continue with young graduates", insisted the Turkish head of state on television.

"We are already struggling to get by economically, we are making so many sacrifices. This kind of speech is the straw that breaks the camel's back. I had been thinking about it for a while, but the president's words were decisive “, says the 38-year-old doctor, who wished to give only his first name.

Mesut is one of thousands of highly qualified Turks who, desperate for the economic and political situation, are desperately trying to move abroad.

Even the prospect next June of parliamentary and presidential elections – which Mr. Erdogan, in power since 2003, is running for – does not seem to give them confidence.

Doctors and other healthcare professionals, whom many European countries lack for their aging populations, are among the first to pack their bags.

According to the Order of Physicians of Turkey, in the first nine months of this year, 1,938 doctors applied for a certificate of "good conduct", necessary for the exercise of their profession abroad.

Witnessing the desire of many physicians to leave, requests for this document have tripled over the past three years.

The inflation rate exceeded 83% over one year last month and the Turkish lira saw its value melt by more than 50% against the dollar, making daily life difficult.

Hope for a better future

But the economy in half mast and low wages are not enough to explain this drain of the best trained brains, young graduates as well as experienced professionals.

Very long working hours, on-call duty of up to 36 hours without rest, violence sometimes exercised by those around patients - generally unpunished - add to the already gloomy picture of the daily life of Turkish doctors.

According to a report by the Saglik-Sen union, 339 medical professionals were victims of workplace violence in the first nine months of 2022.

After the murder of a cardiologist by a relative of a patient in July, doctors' organizations blamed the government for its inaction, even though sentences were recently toughened.

"When I talk to my friends, the hardest thing is the despair that gnaws at us. All are unhappy and are looking for alternatives", says Mesut who has started to learn German and plans to leave next summer for Germany where he hopes to offer "a better future" to her two children.

In addition to medicine, young graduates and even students on whom Erdogan is counting to compensate for departures are also preparing to leave Turkey.

"The economic crisis, but also the restrictions on freedoms are pushing young people to go abroad. It's so sad. These brains should be a source of wealth for the country", laments Tezcan Karakus Candan, president of the Chamber of Architects. from Ankara.

More and more architects are asking the chamber to find out about the conditions for settling in a third country, she says.

"Low Aspirations"

Burcu Basmaci, an architect in Ankara, dreams of leaving Turkey like two of his friends who recently packed up for the United States.

"They are no longer architects... they work as waiters. But they are happier than me. Here, we are so desperate that we don't want to do anything," she laments.

The hardening of power towards opponents since 2016 and the failed coup, with numerous restrictions on freedom of expression, contribute a lot to this feeling of "despair".

"Young people feel like their lives are being confiscated. Their main demand is actually democracy," said Ms. Candan.

Criticisms swept away as "low aspirations" by the Turkish head of state.

“Those who knock on the doors of other countries for aspirations as low as getting into better cars, or being able to attend more concerts make us pity,” Mr. Erdogan asserted at the end of September.

"We young people want a free environment," says Hale, a third-year medical student in Ankara who is also considering leaving.

"If things change in Turkey, I will stay. But we can't envisage a change in the short term," she says.

© 2022 AFP