Saadet Party Samsun Deputy Mehmet Karaman said that they are against the 2024 budget.
Stating that there is a privileged minority in this budget, but not our poor, self-sacrificing nation, Karaman noted that there are cronies, rentiers, bribers, loan sharks, collaborators, lobbyists and foreign powers in the budget.
Saadet Party Samsun Deputy Mehmet Karaman, who spoke at the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, started his speech by wishing mercy to the 12 soldiers who were martyred in the Claw-Lock operation region in Northern Iraq.
Karaman expressed his wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured and his condolences to our nation.
THIS YEAR'S BUDGET DEFICIT IS MORE THAN THE TOTAL BUDGET DEFICIT IN 21 YEARS
Karaman said that he did not understand why the ruling party deputies said "yes" to this budget.
"See, what is the most important outcome of a budget? That budget is a balanced budget, meaning that revenues and expenses cover each other. In other words, all the expenditures of the government during a year can be covered by the revenues it will obtain in that year. So, is this the budget before us? Unfortunately no. You have not been able to achieve such a target in any of the budgets you have prepared during your twenty-one years of power, or rather, you have not had or could not have such a problem. Over the past period, you have made 21 budgets and you could not create a balanced budget in any of these budgets, you brought the 22nd one before us and the result is the same. The 21 budgets you prepared gave a deficit of nearly 2 trillion liras in twenty-one years, now the 22nd one is before us and the budget deficit you envisage is 2.6 trillion liras, a budget deficit greater than the total budget deficit in twenty-one years; shame, sin," Karaman said.
“YOU HAVE BECOME A SLAVE OF FOREIGN POWERS”
Karaman stated that state resources are usurped by profiteering circles and that citizens' labor is exploited by interest lobbies and banks, which are modern moneylenders.
"When you came to power promising prosperity, peace, trust, justice and development, you condemned both the state and the nation to more misery, more poverty and collapse; Do not be angry with my words, because all these numbers are the numbers you gave. The expected development did not materialize during your twenty-one years of power alone, and unfortunately, your interest-oriented, capitalist economic policies that you represent could not provide a fair share and fair distribution of income. In the interest-inflation-debt spiral, you have enslaved the state to the external forces that you complain about so much, and you have made the citizens slaves of those external forces," Karaman added.
MORE MISERY, MORE POVERTY
Pointing out that interest rates have risen as in the 1990s, Karaman said that interest rates are approaching 50 percent and that the central government debt stock has exceeded 6.5 trillion.
Karaman said that the 2024 budget satisfied the American and European ministers.
"The tax burden is increasing day by day, and the debt interest we will pay has exceeded the budget of 15 ministries. Against all figures, the budget allocated to investment is only 1.5 trillion. Citizens cannot cope with this much burden and are groaning; As a result, he cannot pay his debt and experiences a serious depression due to financial difficulties. This situation brings bankruptcies, crimes, loss of moral values and ultimately social degradation," Karaman stated.