Retirees revolt against 2025 budget: 'It will make us even poorer'

Retirees gathered to protest the 2025 budget. Members of the United Retirees Union and the Retirees Assemblies Union İzmir Branch held a press conference in the Konak district. 

Ömer Atılgan, a member of the Retirees Assembly İzmir Branch, spoke on behalf of the retirees during the joint press statement. Atılgan said the following: 

''With the anti-public, crony, and biased economic policies implemented by the AKP government, retirees and laborers are becoming poorer every day, while a happy minority is adding wealth to their wealth. While the 2025 budget was being prepared and its negotiations were ongoing, we shouted about this situation in the streets and squares. We screamed, 'Come, let's fill the streets and squares, let's act in an organized manner, let's join retirees' unions, let's be one voice, let's be united, let's claim our rights.' But because we were not organized, we were not strong enough. They ignored us.

'WE REJECT THIS MISERY'

The 2025 budget was prepared not for society, but in line with the demands of international capital institutions. This budget is a social murder that will make us even poorer and leave us struggling, barely enough for us to just breathe. We no longer have any expectations from the government that implements these policies; there is no way the government will see us unless we fight for ourselves. We, the retirees, contributed to the development and progress of the country by producing goods and services during the most productive periods of our lives. We are people who postponed our dreams, imagining that we would live in comfort, peace, and prosperity when we retired. This was also the purpose of the insurance premiums we paid in advance for years. Today, we reject the hunger, poverty, and misery deemed appropriate for us.

We are a massive mass of 16 million 350 thousand people. We are one of the largest social groups in the country. But we are not strong, because we are not organized. That is why they are rotting our dreams, melting our self-confidence, breaking our courage, teaching us to endure losing rather than winning, teaching us to complain rather than to speak out, and teaching us to blame others instead of taking responsibility. Because we are like this, they ignore us, devalue us, and even shamelessly say that we are a burden. But we are people who have retired through our labor. We are right, and we want our rights. We do not accept this budget; we reject it.

'BEING RIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH'

What do we want? The existence of retirees' unions should be accepted, our wages should be determined through a collective Retirees' Agreement, an adjustment law should be enacted immediately, health co-payments should be abolished, and access to healthcare should be facilitated. Elderly care homes, elderly guest houses, and home health services should be developed and expanded; bank promotions should be determined through bargaining with the active participation of retirees' unions; deficiencies in the EYT (Retirement at Age of Retirement) should be addressed; and retirees, along with employees, should be represented in the management of Social Security institutions with the right to speak and make decisions. Being right is not enough; we need to be strong, and for that, we need to be organized in our unions. When we achieve this, we will take our rights by force."