100 million Turkish flags sold since failed coup attempt


Along with Turkey's people's rallying against the failed coup attempt, there has been a record increase in the manufacture of Turkish flags. The minimum prices for flags have jumped from TL 1.5 to TL 3 ($0.50 to $1). The rallies being held daily in response to the failed coup attempt on July 15 led to record sales for Turkish flags. According to Cumhuriyet daily, while flag manufacturers have been working overtime to meet demand, it learned that 100 million flags have been manufactured and sold so far.Flag manufacturers say they were having a hard time finding fabric for manufacturing. Facing the unexpected demand, flag manufacturers have depleted their stocks. Trying to meet demand by working 24/7, manufacturers have increased the number produced daily from 1,000 up to 100,000. The largest demand is in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir followed by Konya, Antalya, Gaziantep and Kayseri. Regarding previously unsold products, flag manufacturers say even flags in unfavorable sizes and quality have been sold. Explaining that flags in stock were depleted and they were caught unprepared, Selahattin Afşar from Karanfil Bayrak said: "Stock in my three storage facilities were depleted, we even turned down half of the incoming orders due to the workload. We increased our production 10 times."Afşar added that since stock has been depleted, they are even selling their poor quality products. Using digital printing, Hasan Aydoğdu from Defne Bayrak said: "We cannot find flags to sell. We are trying to get a line in the factories. We sold 40,000 flags in one week while we had been selling 20 in one day before the coup attempt. We received an order for 40,000 flags from Çorum. We cannot catch up [with the demand]."