Before the election, base pensions were increased to 7,500 Turkish Liras with the support of the Treasury. Then, with the 25 percent increase in July only reaching the root salary, millions of retirees did not receive any raises.
After the raise decision, while retirees expressed their reactions to the inadequacy of their pensions, the government pointed first to October and then to the New Year.
Zeynel Abidin Ergen, Chairman of "All Pensioners Union", called for a raise for retirees as soon as possible.
"GOVERNMENT GIVES HOPE TO PENSIONERS AGAINST THE REACTION"
Drawing attention to the 25 percent raise in July, Ergen stated that approximately 9 million retirees were victimized by this increase.
"In July, 6 million retirees received zero salary increase, that is, no salary increase at all. The salaries of 3 million retirees increased between zero and 25 percent. Inflation has already wiped out the increases made in July. Therefore, retirees' demand for a raise in the face of these high increases attracted public attention. The government saw the demand, pointed to October 1 to dampen it, and then drew attention to New Year's Eve. Thus, the government gave hope to retirees," he said.
"THE REASON BEHIND THE PROMISE IS TO GAIN TIME FOR THE ELECTION"
Pointing out that President Erdoğan marked the New Year, Ergen reminded that local elections will be held.
"It turned out that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's New Year's signal was entirely a time-saving operation aimed at the election. It is obvious that the basis of the entire statement is election investment," he added.
"MINIMUM RETIREMENT SALARY SHOULD BE 20,000 LIRA"
Stating that they announced their demands in every raise period, Ergen stated that this year they updated their demands 3 times against inflation.
"In today's conditions, we have updated our demands as follows. We say that the lowest pension should be indexed to the lowest civil servant salary. The minimum pension today should be 20 thousand liras. We demand that the salaries of other retirees increase at the same rate. With the crisis, the period of retirees living with hope is over. Our expectation is not hope but bread," Ergen said.