2025 budgets for 3 ministries approved

In the General Assembly, the question-and-answer session began following the speeches on the budget.

BORROWING RIGHT FOR EVERY CHILD: 2 YEARS

Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan recalled that before the social security reform in 2008, women did not have the right to purchase birth-related service time. He stated that in 2008, a right was granted to purchase up to 2 years of service for each child after the start of insurance to ensure that periods women spent away from working life due to childbirth could be evaluated for their social security.

Işıkhan stated that the borrowing right was extended to 3 children in 2014, providing an advantage of up to 6 years of premium payment days for women's retirement.

Responding to a question regarding İŞKUR's capacity, Minister Işıkhan stated that İŞKUR provides services in 81 provinces with a total of 160 units and approximately 10,000 personnel, 4,800 of whom are job and vocational counselors. He noted that the number of people who come to the institution in person to apply is around 8,000 per day.

Emphasizing that combating informal employment is one of the Ministry's most fundamental priorities, Işıkhan explained that activities supporting registered employment are carried out within this scope, including information and awareness-raising efforts, data sharing, risk and sector-focused inspections, and projects conducted jointly with the EU.

Işıkhan said, "In the inspections carried out especially in the last 3 years, a total of 417,629 workplaces and 3,329,761 employees were inspected, and it was determined that 2,655 workplaces were operating informally and 96,134 employees were employed informally. Approximately 4.3 billion liras in premiums and administrative fines were imposed on the workplaces."

"141 BILLION LIRAS COLLECTED IN EARTHQUAKE CAMPAIGN"

Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya provided information regarding requests for meetings, demonstrations, and marches, saying, "18 months have passed since the day we took office. The rate of event applications that were not permitted by the authorities is 2.25 percent of the applications. In other words, we have permitted 97.75 percent of them. Our Grand Assembly made Law No. 2911, and we are trying to implement it."

Regarding the amount of aid collected following the February 6 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, Yerlikaya said, "A total of 141 billion liras was collected, including the earthquake campaign and interest income. To date, 119.3 billion has been spent. Currently, there is 21 billion 540 million liras in AFAD's account at 3 public banks. All expenditures made in this regard are announced on AFAD's website every 15 days."

Yerlikaya stated that there are 32 removal centers in 25 cities in Turkey and that the capacity of these removal centers is 18,870.

He stated that the removal centers provide an important service in the fight against irregular migration.

"WE HAVE NEVER IMPORTED STRAW FROM UKRAINE"

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı also spoke about the stubble fires in Diyarbakır and Mardin, saying, "This fire occurred in a residential area, so it is the responsibility of the municipality. Both the Diyarbakır municipality and local municipalities were insufficient. However, we do not want even a scratch on any of our people. We mobilized our friends with all our might."

Recalling the allegations of straw and seafood imports, Yumaklı said, "We do not import straw; we have never imported it from Ukraine. Turkey does not have, and has never had, any seafood imports from Somalia."

Yumaklı stated that 40,000 traps were sent to provinces free of charge as part of the fight against the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Responding to the claim that the number of farmers is decreasing, Yumaklı stated that the number of farmers in the Farmer Registration System was 2 million 177 thousand in the previous year, 2 million 245 thousand in 2023, and 2 million 340 thousand this year.

Stating that they analyze all products coming to Turkey, Minister Yumaklı reported that only 0.19 percent of the 4.6 million tons of fresh fruits and vegetables exported in 2023 were returned, and half of this return was due to mold.

In the General Assembly, DEVA Party Istanbul Deputy Hasan Karal and independent Istanbul Deputy Cemal Enginyurt took the floor on their own behalf and criticized the government.

While Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya was continuing his speech on his Ministry's budget in the General Assembly, the entry of some ministry bureaucrats into the General Assembly caused controversy.

Following the speeches, the 2025 budgets for the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and their affiliated institutions were approved in the General Assembly.

Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Bekir Bozdağ closed the session to reconvene at 11:00.