Opposition leader slams Erdogan over “low” pay raise

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of not raising public servants and pensioners’ salaries enough.

“Are you running the state or playing house,” Kilicdaroglu asked on Twitter, tagging Erdogan on the post.

“First you give 25 percent raise, then you fear and give 30 percent… Are you running the state or playing house? You're going to make the same raise here as you did to the minimum wage. What is it that you don’t understand," Kilicdaroglu said.

Önce %25 zam de, sonra kork %30 de... Sen devlet mi yönetiyorsun, evcilik mi oynuyorsun? Asgari ücrete yaptığın zammın aynısını buraya da yapacaksın. Neyi anlamıyorsun sen @RTErdogan?

— Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (@kilicdarogluk) January 4, 2023

After heavy criticism that the yearly raise in salaries of pensioners and public servants was way below the inflation rate, Erdogan on Wednesday has added an extra 5% to the pay checks, increasing the raise rate to 30% from 25%.

Semi-annual increase in Turkey’s minimum wage stood at 54.5%.