YRP Chairman Erbakan calls for early elections: The nation has no strength left to endure!

New Welfare Party Chairman Fatih Erbakan arrived in Kahramanmaraş with his deputy chairmen to pay congratulatory visits to the mayors who won the March 31 elections as candidates from his party.

'6 MILLION CHILDREN ARE LIVING IN POVERTY'

Erbakan stated that the nation is not satisfied with the government that has been in power for 20 years, which is why the people showed favor to the New Welfare Party on March 31. Touching upon the economy, Erbakan said the following:

"Imagine you receive a minimum wage of 17 thousand liras. 5 thousand liras is just the cost of a lunchbox. A school bag is sold for 1000 liras. Recently, a child went to the market holding their father's hand. They said, 'We are 3 siblings. 3 bags cost 3 thousand liras. We couldn't buy the bags and are going back.' There is an OECD report stating that '6 million children in Turkey are living in poverty.' 6 million children. That is as many children living in poverty as the entire population of a small or medium-sized country in Europe. The Ministry of Family and Social Services says, 'We are providing social assistance to 5.4 million children.' A survey was conducted in Istanbul just last month. 52 percent of those who participated in the survey said that in the previous month, there was at least one food item they wanted but could not buy. Why am I using Istanbul as an example? Istanbul is also Turkey's most economically developed city. Half of the people in Istanbul, 1 in 2 people, cannot buy fruit, vegetables, or food products even when they crave them. 6 million children are living in poverty, and social assistance was provided to over 17 million people last year. If you say 17 million people, that makes up one-fourth of Turkey's population. One in four people cannot meet their basic needs with their income and are in need of social assistance. The hunger threshold is 21 thousand liras, and the poverty threshold is 64 thousand liras. In Istanbul, the poverty threshold is 70 thousand liras. According to this calculation, 45 percent of the public in Turkey is hungry, and 85 percent is poor."

'A CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT IS NECESSARY'

Expressing that there have been major increases in fuel and foreign exchange rates since Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek took office, Fatih Erbakan said, "The cost of living has increased, the hunger threshold has increased, and inflation has increased. Interest rates rose from 8.5 percent to 50 percent. Inflation increased, exchange rates increased, fuel prices increased, and these increases have compounded. Now they say, 'Sir, we will bring inflation down to single digits.' Since you arrived, you have already increased it from 38 to 75. Forget single digits, you cannot even keep it stable; it is increasing even more. Now, in the medium-term program, they were calculating next year's inflation at 33 percent, and they revised it to 42 percent. It is always the same story. February will be better than January, April will be better than March, May will be better than April. Nothing is getting better; on the contrary, it is getting worse. And it is not possible for this trend to improve or to be saved from this disaster with the current economic management's understanding of debt, interest, price hikes, taxes, and hot money economy. Therefore, a change of government is absolutely necessary."

CALL FOR EARLY ELECTIONS

Stating that there is massive waste in the public sector and that this waste must be prevented, Fatih Erbakan said, "It is not possible for Turkey to be saved without this administration changing, without a new understanding coming into play, without switching from a debt, interest, price hike, and tax economy to an economy focused on production, employment, and exports, and without a state administration—a government administration—that adopts an 'everyone first, the low-income first, the oppressed first' mentality. For this to happen, it depends on holding an early election as soon as possible. Under these conditions, neither Turkey nor the nation has any strength left to endure until 2028. An early election must be held by the end of 2025 or in the spring of 2026, and this change, which the nation has now clearly expressed and demonstrated with its votes on March 31, must absolutely be realized."

News Source: 12punto