İYİ Party submits legislative proposal for pension increases

İYİ Party has submitted a legislative proposal to the Speaker of the Parliament to ensure that the lowest pension payment is not less than the minimum wage. İYİ Party Spokesperson and Ankara MP Kürşat Zorlu drew attention to the state of pension payments during a press conference he held at the Parliament.

Zorlu stated that pension payments have remained below the hunger threshold and that they are making efforts to solve this problem, but that the government is accusing them of inciting citizens by blaming them.

"GOVERNMENT IS NOT TAKING STEPS FOR A SOLUTION"

Showing the charts he had regarding pension payments and the economy to members of the press, Zorlu said, "In 2003, the lowest civil servant pension was equivalent to 1.47 times the minimum wage. Since that date, there has been a continuous decline in pension payments. By 2024, the lowest pension has been equalized to 0.59 times the minimum wage. This dire year, which is referred to as the 'year of the retiree,' has unfortunately gone down in history this way. What we call a pension has now turned into poverty-level income, a poverty problem," he said.

Zorlu noted that the government is running a major campaign based on growth and export figures but is not taking the necessary steps to increase welfare and resolve the injustice in income distribution, adding that they view this situation as an interference with the citizens' right to life.

Stating that they have submitted a legislative proposal to the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) regarding the increase of the lowest pension and holiday bonuses, Zorlu spoke as follows:

"We need to tie holiday bonuses to a coefficient. In 2018, holiday bonuses were announced as 1,000 liras. When we compare 2018 to 2024, the CPI increased by 480 percent, and the food index increased by 637 percent. The holiday bonus, however, increased by 200 percent, rising to 3,000 liras. According to our legislative proposal, the holiday bonus cannot be less than half of the lowest civil servant pension. This corresponds to 7,500 liras. Furthermore, we propose moving away from the holiday bonus being a figure that the political power or the President grants as a favor, and instead foresee the increase of retirement bonuses based on coefficients renewed every 6 months. Additionally, according to our proposal, the lowest pension cannot be less than the minimum wage.

If our proposal is accepted, from now on, the lowest pension cannot be less than the minimum wage. And we desire for this to be renewed every 6 months according to the inflation determined by TUIK. We demand that the political power put this legislative proposal of ours on the agenda immediately."

COMPARISON WITH 2018

Zorlu stated that in 2018, retirees could buy 22.8 kilograms of meat with their holiday bonus, whereas today they can only buy 7.56 kilograms, and that 9 million retirees are condemned to live below the hunger threshold, a situation that is reflected in every area of life.

Regarding a question about allegations that his party's mayoral candidate for Seyhan, Adana, used aid materials sent by the United Nations (UN) for earthquake victims in his election campaign, Zorlu said, "I spoke with our mayoral candidate regarding the news. He had a statement that the photo reflected in the public eye was a setup. There is a very clear conspiracy here."

RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION OF ERDOĞAN'S RE-CANDIDACY

Zorlu gave the following response to a question regarding the debates on whether AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can be a candidate for the presidency once again:

"Before every election, such controversial issues, especially the constitution, are used as a tool to eliminate, or even overshadow, our country's real agenda. I see this as an attempt to distract from the citizen's real agenda and to overshadow it. We want to solve our citizens' problems and be in an effort of nation-focused politics."