Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality plans to deliver 7,000 support packages in 2026 to people with coeliac disease who face difficulties accessing gluten-free products, with the aim of both making daily life easier and easing the financial burden. As the Municipality works to reach all coeliac patients and make the support sustainable, beneficiaries say the project has made gluten-free products more accessible.

The Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities and Older People has raised its target this year under the project it is running to help residents living with coeliac disease overcome one of their biggest challenges: the high cost and limited availability of suitable food.

For people with coeliac disease, following a gluten-free diet is not a choice but a medical necessity. Yet this necessity often brings a serious financial burden and problems with access. Gluten-free products are still available only in limited quantities on supermarket shelves and are often sold at high prices. To help address these difficulties, the Rare and Chronic Diseases Branch Directorate will distribute 7,000 support packages in 2026.

Gluten-free food support for 1,750 coeliac patients

As part of the project, which is aimed at directly improving the quality of life of people with coeliac disease, teams will deliver food packages to 1,750 people in the first quarter of 2026. The distribution will continue in four phases throughout the year, with a total of 7,000 support packages set to reach residents in need.

Target: 7,000 support packages

Speaking about the project, Sevda Erdem Ateş, Head of the Rare and Chronic Diseases Branch, said they planned to reach 1,750 residents in the first phase and aimed to complete the distribution of 7,000 packages over the course of the year.

Ateş said the work was being carried out in cooperation with district municipalities, adding: “We are carrying out the distributions in a coordinated way. Our aim is to reach all coeliac patients in need and make this support sustainable.”

“Children are our priority”

Ateş said the gluten-free food packages were scheduled to be distributed in four phases throughout 2026, drawing attention both to the difficulties in sourcing gluten-free products and to their high cost. “It is very important for us to improve access to these products and reduce the financial burden they place on families. Healthy and balanced nutrition is a particular priority for children in their formative years. That is why we also include child-friendly snacks in the packages,” she said.

“The Municipality has supported not only our meals, but our household budget too”

Ekrem Varli, Chair of the Diyarbakır Coeliac and Gluten-Free Association, highlighted the stark price difference on the market and explained the importance of the Municipality’s support in these words: “While a kilo of ordinary flour costs 15 to 20 lira, the flour coeliac patients are required to use can cost as much as 250 lira per kilo. A packet of regular pasta costs 20 to 30 lira, whereas a gluten-free packet of pasta costs 200 lira. This makes it almost impossible for low-income families to access these foods. The packages provided by the Municipality have offered not only food for our tables, but also substantial support for the family budget.”

Varli also said that, in addition to high prices, access to gluten-free products in Diyarbakır remained difficult. He noted that they mostly had to order such products online, but that the Municipality’s support had made access much easier.

Stating that the Municipality’s support had made them feel both happy and stronger, Varli expressed his hope that the project would continue.

“Access to gluten-free products has become easier”

Zekiye İçlek, a mother of two children with coeliac disease, said her children were diagnosed five years ago and that at the time they had faced major difficulties in finding gluten-free products.

She said they had previously gone from one supermarket to another in search of gluten-free items, often without success, but that thanks to the Municipality’s support they were now able to access these products more easily.

“The support has eased pressure on our budget”

Emphasising that the high cost of these products had caused serious financial hardship in the past, İçlek said that regular assistance had eased the strain on the family budget and allowed her children to eat more healthily.

“The Municipality’s efforts have made an important contribution”

Another resident, Şeyhmus Palamut, who also has a child with coeliac disease, said the process had been extremely difficult when they first encountered the illness.

Over time, he said, the support provided by the Municipality had made the situation more manageable, adding that the work carried out over the past two years had made a particularly important contribution.

Palamut also said it would be beneficial to open kiosks or shops in different parts of the city selling gluten-free products, and added that they wanted the support to continue and expand.