Erdoğan announces: 5,000 lira payment for working retirees as well

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated, "4 million 689 thousand of our retirees, primarily our farmer and BAĞKUR-registered tradesman retirees who could not benefit from the initial regulation, will also be able to take advantage of the 5,000 TL payment opportunity."

A program was held at the Haliç Congress Center specifically for November 24 Teachers' Day with the theme "Those Who Build the Century Will Build the Century." The program was attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, AK Party Istanbul deputies, guests, and teachers.

Speaking at the program, President Erdoğan stated that the 5,000 TL payment would be made to working retirees, saying, "I wish our retired teachers a healthy, prosperous, and long life. On this occasion, I would like to share some good news regarding our retirees with you and our dear nation.

In order to ease the burden on our retirees, we had decided last month to make a one-time additional payment of 5,000 lira. Our legislative proposal regarding this passed through our parliament, and the 5,000 lira payments were deposited into the accounts of 10 million 430 thousand non-working retirees.

Frankly, the fact that a portion of our retirees was left out is a situation that personally did not sit well with us and that we did not find fair. We observed with sadness that this caused a sense of hurt among our other retirees, including our farmer and tradesman retirees.

At our cabinet meeting on Monday, we instructed our ministers of labor and finance to make the necessary arrangements and corrections as quickly as possible. Our ministers have completed their preparations as of today. Hopefully, we will submit the relevant legislative proposal to our parliament next week. We will ensure that 4 million 680 thousand of our retirees, primarily our farmer and Bağ-Kur registered tradesman retirees who could not benefit from the first regulation, also benefit from the one-time 5,000 lira payment opportunity," he said.

"WE HAVE APPOINTED 40 THOUSAND TEACHERS EVERY YEAR"

Stating that they have always given the lion's share of the budget to education, President Erdoğan said, "Regardless of Turkey's economic and political conditions, we have not allowed education and training to be pushed to the background. In all budgets prepared during our governments, we have always allocated the lion's share to education. In 2002, our total education budget was 3 billion lira, but do you know what it is today? Today, this amount has risen to 652 billion lira.

80 percent of the teachers currently serving in the public sector were appointed during our terms in power. We have carried out an average of 40 thousand teacher appointments every year.

One issue we focus on with sensitivity is improvements regarding teacher salaries and personal rights. While a teacher earned 292 dollars in November 2002, excluding extra lessons, today they receive a salary that is approximately 3 times that in dollar terms," he said.

COMBATING EXORBITANT PRICES

Stating that they cannot ignore the unscrupulous practices of landlords, President Erdoğan said, "I believe that it will soon reach figures compatible with market realities. We are now implementing measures that will deflate the bubble of exorbitant prices. A stabilization has also begun in housing and rental prices. On the other hand, whatever we do for our teachers, to whom we entrust our children and our bright future, will be insufficient. I say this not just for the sake of talking, but with all my heart. Until today, we have not let anyone come between us and our teachers. From now on, we will not allow our affection to be shaken.

We will present our legislative proposal that will strengthen the quality of the profession to the attention of all our stakeholders. We will implement a new employment system by reviewing all stages from undergraduate programs to professional development," he stated.

Touching on the issue of violence against teachers, Erdoğan said, "The issue of violence is one of the subjects we are most sensitive about. In our culture, a hand is not raised against a teacher; a teacher's hand is kissed. If there is a problem with the legislation on this matter, we will solve it, and we will pursue it with determination. We will prevent the distressing images that are sometimes reflected in the media. In the schools I visit, I recommend 4 words to the students: Read, think, apply, conclude," he expressed.

Regarding schools in the earthquake zone, President Erdoğan said, "In the region where we continue our educational services with 1,977 schools and 119,200 classrooms, 969 schools and 12,120 of our classrooms were damaged and became unusable in the earthquake. In addition to the number of schools and classrooms we planned to improve the physical infrastructure of our educational institutions, we opened 2,571 new classrooms that were urgently needed after the earthquake.

Since February 6, we have completed the maintenance and repair work of 45,000 of our classrooms in the region and put them at the service of our children.

We will open another 19,468 classrooms for service at the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year in the earthquake zone. We are already continuing the construction of earthquake houses and our village houses. We will deliver a total of 46,000 completed houses and village houses to their rightful owners before the new year," he said.