Erdogan adds 5% more to paychecks of public servants and pensioners

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday continued his series of “good news” to the Turkish nation by adding an extra 5% to the yearly increase in pensioner’s salaries after a boost in minimum wage that at least covered the loss by the official rate of inflation and the elimination of age requirement for retirement.

“You know we have announced the increase in the salaries of civil servants and pensioners as 25 percent. But even on that day, I instructed my ministers to find formulas to increase this. As a result of our studies on which areas we can make further sacrifices [from the budget], we have seen we can increase this amount to 30 percent,” Erdogan said, during his address to the parliamentary group of his fellow AKP (Justice and Development Party) deputies.

Erdoğan also underlined that salaries of civil servants and pensioners will be re-assessed in July 2023 in line with the inflation rate. Erdogan also said that the government increased the minimum pension from TL 3,500 to TL 5,500.

THIS IS NOT START, THIS IS FINISH

Erdogan also reiterated his demand for support from the nation one last time in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

“When I say this last time, they misunderstand this, I say this for this election. This is not start, this is finish,” he said.

It was not immediately clear why he used the terms “this is finish” in a speech he defined his 20 years of service in the government as “only the beginning.”