Turkiye increases salaries of some civil servants by 45% ahead of election vote

Turkish President and Leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech as he attends an electoral rally organized by his party in Kayseri, Turkiye on May 06, 2023 [Sercan Küçükşahin – Anadolu Agency]

Turkiye raised the wages of some 700,000 civil servants by 45 per cent, President Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday, days before tight presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Erdogan announced the pay rise on Tuesday at a meeting in Ankara that discussed the economic and social rights of public workers through a framework called the Public Collective Bargaining Agreement Framework Protocol.

“We are increasing wages by 45 per cent, including the welfare share,” the President said, according to a statement on the government’s website.

“Thus, we are raising the lowest public worker wage to TL15,000 [$768 per month],” it added.

Erdogan, who has led Turkiye for 20 years, is campaigning on a promise of lowered interest rates to tackle the economic crisis.

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