Müsavat Dervişoğlu announces minimum wage proposal! Gives a figure: It should be updated twice a year

İYİ Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu is making statements regarding the agenda at his party's weekly group meeting in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM).

Dervişoğlu began his speech by conveying his best wishes to Zafer Party leader Ümit Özdağ, who was released from Silivri Prison after 148 days of detention.

Here are the highlights from Dervişoğlu's speech:

"First of all, I would like to convey my best wishes to Mr. Ümit Özdağ once again. However, I must state that we are not rejoicing because an unlawful arrest and months of deprivation of rights have resulted in his release, but rather that Ümit Özdağ has been rescued from Silivri. We say welcome back among us.

I will begin with our cause for education, on the occasion of the 2024-2025 academic year, which will end this week. Because while looking at these missiles, warplanes, intelligence and communication networks passing over us, we need to see the technological gap between the two countries. We need to look at the direction the world is heading and the impact of this direction on countries, nations, societies, and individuals. Development, progress, modernization, growth, contemporary transformation, whatever you call it; with the first quarter of the 21st century behind us, there is no meaning to the politics to be conducted without asking the question, 'Where are we today, and where will we be tomorrow?' If you ask what the three greatest areas of destruction created by 23 years of government are,

I would undoubtedly put national education at the top.

"THEY VIOLATE THE COVENANT AND THE CONTRACT, THEN THEY WANT A NEW CONSTITUTION"

For 23 years, they have systematically failed to fulfill their Constitutional duties; moreover, they are deliberately violating the Constitution. First, they violate every article, every paragraph; with systematic violations, they make the Constitution inapplicable. They make us forget our Constitution and our Constitutional rights, our inalienable, non-transferable rights. They are destroying the contract the state has made with the individual and society. They are violating the covenant and the contract. Then they want a new Constitution. As I have always explained, they want a lawless state. They want an impoverished Turkey. They want our people to start every new day with the worry of a morsel of bread to pass through their throat, and for that reason, to say 'yes' to everything.

DERVİŞOĞLU: MINIMUM WAGE SHOULD BE UPDATED TWICE A YEAR

The economic crisis that has been pursued with determination for 7 years, the fire in the kitchen that never goes out, and the most important part of it, salaries that have turned into alms! Unfortunately, in our country, the minimum wage is one of the most fundamental tools of this politics of poverty and fear. Because in Erdoğan's Turkey, the minimum wage is no longer an exception, but the rule. And this rule is that 80% of our working population either works for the minimum wage or receives a salary at the minimum wage threshold. Today, there is a minimum wage of 22,105 liras. The İYİ Party's proposal on this matter is clear. The minimum wage should be updated twice a year; this should be a legal obligation. Secondly, while this figure is being determined, the situation of both the worker and the employer should be considered together. The burden on the employer should be shouldered by the state. Tax exemption? Direct support? Our resources and laws are sufficient to do all of these.

ANNOUNCES MINIMUM WAGE PROPOSAL

According to our calculation and proposal, the minimum wage today should be at least 29,850 TL. This is our proposal. Instead of selling dreams called state wisdom, the government should deal with reality! Let the government go ahead and use the Parliament in its true capacity, that is, in a way where the state embraces its citizens, instead of making it a tool for embracing terrorists.

Let them bring the proposal, and we will support it!

"WE ARE CALLING FOR COMMON SENSE, DIPLOMACY, AND PEACE"

The conflict that has been coming for months has finally arrived. While the systematic genocide carried out in Gaza by an Israel governed by a terrorist government continues, violence, destruction, and blood have spread to Iranian cities. High-level officials of the Iranian government have been assassinated using very sophisticated methods. Facilities are being bombed, people are dying. It is understood that diplomacy, reason, humanity, and criteria of reasonableness are abandoning the world.

As the İYİ Party, we are calling on everyone to common sense, diplomacy, and peace. We also demand that the government managing the Republic of Turkey make an effort in this direction without any 'ifs' or 'buts'.

The government and its partners say that the PKK has laid down its arms and that the goal of a terror-free Turkey will be realized, and they treat murderers like heroes, is that right? That is also true.

"DO YOU SEE THE FARCE?"

Well, do you know what the ringleader of PJAK, the Iranian branch of the PKK, says? He says, 'We support Israel's possible attacks on Iran. We are ready to participate in the operation against Iran. We will do what is necessary to establish dominance in the region.' Do you see the farce?

Simultaneously, the partner of the People's Alliance is saying almost the same things for Iran as it said for Turkey: 'An understanding that ignores the differences within its own country invites Israel today, and other hegemonic imperialist countries tomorrow. The best way to take this invitation out of their hands is democratization. I want to state that Iran should also resolve its own issues as soon as possible through democratic ways and methods, through negotiation.'

This is blackmail politics! They want us to give up the republic, abandon the nation-state, dissolve Turkish citizenship, and stay in power with this ransom.

I have been giving a warning for months. I am underlining that the process initiated in Turkey one morning by a political party chairman inviting the head of the terrorists to the parliament is not a coincidence. Both the recent developments in our region and our experiences as a country show that Turkey is being drawn into a great trap.

There are those who tell me, 'You are throwing a wrench in the works.' There are those who tell me, 'You are causing discord.' There are even those who go further and put out a foolish rhyme saying, 'You are feeding on blood.'

First of all, let me state this; thank God we are not bloodless that we would want blood, and we are not parasites that we would feed on blood!

"FOR US, THERE IS ONLY ONE FOUNDING LEADER"

As for causing discord; I am fulfilling the 'first duty' entrusted to me by the founder of our Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in his Address to the Youth. I will continue to block the path, disrupt the plans, and throw a wrench in the works of every step that aims to tear up the Treaty of Lausanne and threatens the title deed of our Republic. This is not called discord; it is called patriotism.

Discord is walking arm in arm with those who attack Lausanne. Discord is acting as a patron to those who target Turkey's unitary state structure. Discord is stooping so low as to call a murderer who lays mines in the path of the Great Turkish Nation a 'founding leader.'

For us, there is only one founding leader, and that is the heroic son of the Great Turkish Nation, Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK.