Retirees react to 5 percent pension hike: Demand for increase from TÜED

Kazım Ergün, Chairman of the Turkey Retired Persons Association (TÜED), stated that the increase of the lowest pension to 10 thousand liras and the additional 5 percent raise for SSK and Bağkur retirees fell short of retirees' expectations, and demanded that these increases be reviewed.

In a written statement, Ergün recalled that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced after yesterday's Cabinet Meeting that the lowest pension, which was 7 thousand 500 liras, had been raised to 10 thousand liras, and that the pension increase for SSK and Bağkur retirees had been raised to 42.6 percent with an additional 5 percent hike.

Pointing out that millions of retirees receive the lowest pension and that the lowest pension, raised to 10 thousand liras, is even below the hunger threshold calculated at 14 thousand liras, Ergün noted the following:

"Even TÜİK announced the CPI rate for the last 6 months as 37.57 percent. In other words, even if the TÜİK figure were taken as a basis, the lowest pension would have been 10 thousand 318 liras. Moreover, the CPI increase was at the level of 46.3 percent in the April-December 2023 period, when the lowest monthly payment was 7 thousand 500 liras. Accordingly, the lowest monthly payment should have been 10 thousand 972 liras."

"THE GAP MUST BE CLOSED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE"

Ergün demanded that the low pension figure and the raise rate for SSK and Bağkur retirees be reviewed, and used the following expressions:

"The increase of the lowest pension to 10 thousand liras and the additional 5 percent raise for SSK and Bağkur retirees have remained below the expectations of retirees. Our expectation from our President and our supreme Parliament is that the matter be re-evaluated and a new regulation be implemented that will allow retirees to breathe a sigh of relief in their difficult struggle for life."

Ergün also requested that the gap formed between pension payments be closed as soon as possible without waiting for July.

News Source: AA