I always appreciate savings posts, but is $14k USD annual really make or break for a Turkish business? I would not know.

That's not the point. You should be asking why DO is so much more expensive.

Not everyone likes wasting money.

If you only have Rs. 100 in your pocket, you will think hard before spending Rs. 10. If you have Rs. 1000 in your pocket, you will not mind spending Rs. 10. That said, even if you are financially sound, why in the world would you want to pay $14k extra for a similar service that is available cheaper? That money could be better utilised elsewhere.

It's a nice chunk of change, which you could use for other purposes. It might not make or break the company, but it could pay for something that actually generates business.

Tale a look at https://www.google.com/finance/quote/USD-TRY?window=MAX

when i save money on something without losing performance or reliability, i feel like a real hacker and money saved is just cherry on top of self accomplishment i feel.

I suspect with that money you could get a full time customer support person for your business. Now think about it, what's creating more value to your customers: having your infra on Digital Ocean or having a better customer support?

Bet I can get 2x more from spending that in anthropic tokens than paying you a full year salary

Think of it in percentage savings.

You can get an (a bit less than) a full employee for that. And that's a better ROI than just throwing it away.