MP Çakır, who switched from CHP to AKP, lashes out at critics of pension levels: Makes 'honor' remark

While reactions regarding the inadequacy of pension payments continue to dominate the agenda, a controversial statement has come from the ruling party wing.

Mersin MP Hasan Ufuk Çakır, who recently resigned from the CHP to join the AKP, criticized retirees demanding a salary increase during a program he attended, citing geopolitical risks as an example.

"THEY ARE STOMPING AROUND..."

Targeting the demands of retirees—the segment paying the heaviest price for the economic crisis—to raise the lowest pension to the level of the minimum wage or at least 25,000 TL, Çakır cited the risks of war surrounding Turkey as justification.

Çakır's remarks, which caused a wide stir and drew backlash on social media, were as follows:

"They are stomping around saying, 'Is 20,000 TL a pension?' My brother, you are not living in Switzerland! You have Greece right next to you, Armenia on this side, Syria down below... When the British come from this side, they will look at my honor, and won't they look at yours?"

TAYYAR SPOKE DIFFERENTLY

Çakır's attempt to suppress the economic demands of retirees using concepts of "survival issues" and "honor" also brought to mind the differing voices within the AKP.

Former AKP Gaziantep MP and MKYK member Şamil Tayyar had recently drawn attention to the scale of the discontent at the grassroots level in a series of warnings. Emphasizing that retirees are a new class that is "the determinant of power," even outnumbering the total number of AKP members, Tayyar had stated the following:

"If this problem cannot be overcome, the anger of the retirees will have a Hiroshima effect at the ballot box. If we cannot share their hardships, at least let us not play with their emotions. I am warning you; retirees are not the CHP or others, they are the government's biggest rival."

News Source: 12punto