Kazım Ergün, president of the Turkish Pensioners Association (TÜED), demanded that the lowest pension be increased to the minimum wage.

Ergün said that retirees were victims of wrong regulations in the past, and that the minimum pension rate was cut in half with legal norms numbered 4447 and 5510.

Noting that workers working at the minimum wage received a pension above the net minimum wage in the period before 2000, Ergün said:

“Today, the lowest pension is 5,500 liras with a state contribution, and the net minimum wage is 8,506 liras. There is a serious difference. Due to the mixed system and the increases indexed to the CPI, the gap between the lowest pension and the minimum wage increases every year. To prevent this, the lowest pension must be raised to the level of the minimum wage.

MUST GO TO THE COMMON REGIME IN MONTHLY BINDING RATIOS

Ergün claimed that millions of retirees had to live on the lowest pension, 5,500 lira, for a month, and demanded that the indicator system be used in pension calculation for permanent increases in pensions, and that the limit lower than the 35 percent pension rate is increased to 70 percent.

Ergün, calling for an adjustment to the pensions of those who retired after 2000, said:

“The mixed dual system prior to law number 5510 did not cause great inequality in the calculation of pensions, and the longer the working day, the higher the pension. The system introduced by Law No. 5510 became a practice that reduces the pension as the working day lengthens. To change this practice and ensure equality in the pensions of those who are in the same situation, it is necessary to update the income and move to a common system in pension rates”.