Vedat Işıkhan reveals which municipalities owe how much to the SSI: '8 of the top 10 municipalities are CHP-run'

The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Plan and Budget Committeeheld the Ministry of Labor and Social Security's 2026 budget deliberations. In the committee chaired by AKP Samsun Deputy Mehmet Muş,the Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhanresponded to questions from deputies.

Touching upon efforts to integrate disabled individuals into the workforce, Işıkhan stated, "We established the 'Barrier-Free İŞKUR' platform to support the participation of disabled individuals in employment and to provide employers with access to a platform that complements the services offered by İŞKUR. By implementing a supported employment project for individuals with intellectual disabilities, we began providing a monthly wage subsidy of 26,000 liras for each individual. We also simplified regulations to enable our disabled citizens to start their own businesses. In July 2025, we launched the 'Barrier-Free Workforce Adaptation Program' as a specialized application to help disabled individuals prepare for the labor market. We allocated 10,000 slots to be implemented across 81 provinces. More than 5,000 of our citizens continue to benefit from these programs, which began gradually."

Addressing criticisms regarding why only 1,000 liras were allocated in the ministry budget for child protection, Işıkhan said, "Unfortunately, news that does not reflect the truth also appears in the media. As you would appreciate, allocating an allowance of 1,000 liras to a budget item, especially for child protection, is contrary to the ordinary flow of life. Everyone knows that these amounts are defined as 'nominal values.' Therefore, the 1,000 liras allocated to the child protection and development item in the budget was placed as a nominal value. This amount was set aside to cover the national contribution share that may arise from potential exchange rate differences for the project on preventing child labor in seasonal agriculture, which our ministry is still carrying out and has a budget of approximately 27 million euros; it is an amount independent of other national and international projects we conduct to combat child labor. Besides this, our activities and projects aimed at protecting our children continue through many different projects and programs."

Responding to questions from members of parliament regarding the obstruction of trade union freedoms, Işıkhan stated that the Ministry prioritizes applications concerning such allegations and conducts inspections. Işıkhan said, "As a result of inspections carried out in workplaces within the scope of Law No. 6356 regarding approximately 882 applications, administrative fines of approximately 58 million liras were imposed on employers found to have committed acts contrary to the legislation."

"THE TOTAL DEBT OF MUNICIPALITIES TO THE SSI IS 234.2 BILLION LIRAS"

Minister Işıkhan also responded to questions regarding how much the municipalities' SSI debt is and whether a distinction is made between municipalities regarding these debts, stating, "As of August 2025, the total debt of municipalities, their affiliated organizations, and companies to the SSI is 234.2 billion liras. No distinction is made in any way among municipalities that owe debt to the SSI, and if municipalities express their will to pay their debts to the SSI, all necessary facilities are provided within the scope of the relevant legislation. We have provided all the facilities that are possible within the scope of the legislation. However, unfortunately, when we take steps to collect SSI debts and when we bring up these debts, they are unfortunately disturbed by this."

"8 OF THE TOP 10 MUNICIPALITIES OWING DEBT TO THE SSI ARE CHP-RUN"

Stating that they must collect the SSI's receivables to keep the SSI financially strong, to provide better service to citizens and retirees, and to pay their salaries, Işıkhan provided the following information regarding the debts of the municipalities:

"Almost all of the institutions most indebted to the SSI are the companies of the municipalities. Regarding the most indebted municipalities, I can say the following: 8 of the top 10 municipalities in Turkey that owe debt to the SSI are Republican People's Party municipalities. Look, while 8 belong to Republican People's Party municipalities, one belongs to an AK Party municipality, and one is the Şişli Municipality, which had a trustee appointed while it was under the Republican People's Party. If we look at the top 50 municipalities that owe debt to the SSI, 35 of them are CHP-run, 12 are AK Party-run, and 2 are municipalities that had trustees appointed while they were under the CHP and one while under the DEM Party. The İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, which ranks first among municipalities with SSI premium debt, has a debt of 16 billion." 

The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality has a debt of 8 billion, the Adana Metropolitan Municipality 7 billion, the trustee-run Şişli Municipality 5.5 billion, the Balıkesir Municipality 4.7 billion, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality 4.5 billion, and the AK Party-run Sakarya Municipality has a debt of 3.5 billion liras. Furthermore, the Beşiktaş Municipality has a debt of 3.2 billion, the Ataşehir Municipality 3.2 billion, and the Sarıyer Municipality 2.9 billion. In total, there are 59 billion liras in unpaid premium debts to the SGK."

Providing information regarding drugs added to the reimbursement list for cancer treatment, Minister Işıkhan stated that they have included five leading immunotherapy drugs used in the fight against cancer in the reimbursement scope for 25 different types of cancer.

Pointing out that drugs on the reimbursement list are now obtained without the need to file a lawsuit against the SGK, Işıkhan reported that they have completely eliminated this issue and that the litigation burden has decreased by 99 percent.

"ADMINISTRATIVE FINES FOR EMPLOYERS WHO RESTRICT UNION FREEDOMS"

Responding to allegations that union freedoms were being obstructed for workers at a textile company, Işıkhan stated that two separate inspections were conducted at the workplaces in question, adding, "As a result of the inspections, administrative fines were imposed on the employer for 105 individuals who were forced to remain in or resign from the union, in violation of Article 19 of the Law on Trade Unions and Collective Labor Agreements No. 6356."

Adding that all drugs related to diabetes treatment are within the scope of reimbursement, Işıkhan shared information regarding the age limit applied to the reimbursement of continuous subcutaneous glucose monitoring devices, saying, "I just informed our General Director of General Health Insurance (GSS); we will work on this issue and strive to remove the age limit."

"WE GRANTED INVESTIGATION PERMISSION FOR OUR PERSONNEL REGARDING THE KARTALKAYA FIRE BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF STATE DECISION"

Refuting claims that investigation permission was not granted for his ministry's personnel regarding the Bolu Kartalkaya hotel fire, Işıkhan shared the following: "The Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested investigation permission for our ministry officials regarding the fire in Kartalkaya in accordance with Law No. 4483. To ensure the legal evaluation of the matter, we granted investigation permission regarding the former Head of the Ankara Guidance and Inspection Group. I want to state that we granted this permission before the Council of State's decision, not after as alleged, and I want this to be on the record."

Işıkhan stated that they have submitted a legislative proposal to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) to extend the new support model, which is based on incentives applied in the textile, ready-to-wear, leather, and furniture sectors, into 2026 in order to protect employment and maintain production capacity. He said, "Our target group here is to support our labor-intensive SMEs and large-scale enterprises. For this purpose, we have allocated approximately 48 billion Turkish Lira from our unemployment insurance fund."

"CLAIMS THAT THE BUDGET TRANSFERS FUNDS TO PRIVATE HOSPITALS DO NOT REFLECT THE TRUTH"

Minister Işıkhan responded to claims that while transfers to the SSI are increasing in the 2025 budget, these transfer expenditures are going to private hospitals to boost the healthcare system, saying, "This claim is absolutely not true. I draw your attention to the share of payments made to private hospitals within treatment expenditures; while it was 23.40 percent in 2013, it fell to 10.4 percent by the end of 2024. The share of payments made to private hospitals within total health expenditures was 15.70 percent in 2013 and fell to 7.07 percent by the end of 2024. In the first 7 months of 2025, this rate declined further to 6.78 percent. Therefore, the claims regarding the share transferred to private hospitals do not reflect the truth."

"WE WILL KEEP OUR PRESIDENT'S PROMISE"

Speaking about the reduction of the current 9,000 premium day requirement for Bağ-Kur insured individuals to 7,200 days, Işıkhan said, "The equalization to 7,200 days was, of course, a promise we expressed earlier under the leadership of our President. However, as you know, I believe we have time to keep this promise between 2026 and 2028. We still have time. The promises made by our President will be fulfilled."