Striking calculation regarding pension: It should be 105 thousand TL
MESK Chairman Musa Kocaman stated that a pension could purchase 15 quarter gold coins in 2005, and that to reach the same purchasing power today, the pension would need to be 105 thousand TL.
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Civil Servant and Pensioner Unions Confederation (MESK) Chairman Musa Kocaman evaluated the economic loss experienced by pensioners during the AKP's last 20 years in power through the lens of gold purchasing power. Speaking to Sözcü, Kocaman argued that under current conditions, pensions should be 105 thousand TL.
"PENSION SHOULD BE 105 THOUSAND TL"
Comparing economic data from 2005 to the present, Kocaman noted that in that year, the lowest pension of 437 TL could purchase exactly 1,456 simits (bagels). However, this amount fell to 1,000 in 2015 and to 723 as of 2025. Thus, 733 simits have been lost from the pensioner's pocket over 20 years.
When the same analysis is performed using gold, the situation becomes even more striking. While 15 quarter gold coins could be purchased with a 437 TL pension in 2005, this number dropped to 6 in 2015 and to only 2 in 2025.
Kocaman expressed his reaction by stating, “Today, for a pensioner to be able to buy 15 quarter gold coins, their pension must be 105 thousand TL. The data is clear; the pensioner's hard-earned money has melted away, quarter by quarter, bite by bite. The pensioner is the road, the bridge, the electricity, the school, the hospital, and the factory of this country. The pensioner is the one who spent a lifetime turning the stones and soil of this land into mortar. The pension does not even amount to a quarter of the poverty line.”