AKP's Nihat Zeybekci makes admission regarding minimum wage and EYT

The minimum wage, which directly concerns 7 million workers and indirectly the entire society, was announced as 22,104 TL following a hastily convened meeting on the evening of December 24.

While citizens reacted to the announced poverty wage, AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan argued that they did not let workers be crushed by inflation.

As reactions to the 30 percent poverty raise applied to the minimum wage continue, an admission has come from the AKP.

Former Minister of Economy and AKP Deputy Chairman for Economic Affairs Nihat Zeybekci was in Kırşehir for his party's 8th Ordinary Congress.

According to the report by Sözcü, speaking at the congress, Zeybekci said that they implemented the EYT policy to win the 2023 general elections, but that this was a mistake.

Zeybekci stated the following:

"If the subject is the homeland, the rest is detail. There is a concept called sustainability. Sustainability is defined as meeting today's demands, desires, and requests with today's means and resources without touching the means and resources of future generations. In other words, it is not 'you eat, your grandchild eats.' If you are going to eat, you will pay. The cost of EYT to the Republic of Turkey in 2024 is 820 billion TL. I am talking about 2024. Do you know what 820 billion TL is? It means 2 February 6 earthquakes. The cost in 2025 is 1.2 trillion, which means 2.5 February 6 earthquakes."

"MINIMUM WAGE IS NOT ENOUGH"

Reminding that he served as Minister of Economy for 4 years, Nihat Zeybekci made striking remarks regarding the 2025 minimum wage figure.

Noting that the minimum wage is not enough, Zeybekci said, "If the minimum wage were 52 thousand instead of 22 thousand, would the welfare of my brothers and sisters have increased? Absolutely not, not by a gram. Do you know how welfare increases? By increasing production, by increasing goods. Because if you increase money without increasing production, without increasing goods, without increasing the products people will buy, and without launching a production mobilization, you only increase prices. This is unfortunately the disease of incompetent politics. The actions taken now are correct to the end. Is it enough? It is not enough. While the minimum wage was 100 dollars in 2023, today the minimum wage has risen to 660 dollars. Is it enough? It is not enough. It should be more, it should be more, it should be a thousand dollars, 1,200 dollars. Therefore, never bow your heads, okay? As AK Party members, never bow your heads," he said.

News Source: 12punto