Public employees in Alanya protest: "Don’t expect more sacrifices from civil servants"

The Turkish Education Union (Türk Eğitim Sen) Alanya Branch held a press conference criticizing the increase in public employees' salaries.

In a press release titled "We Demand Additional Raises and Welfare Share," the president of the Alanya Branch, Onur Niğmet Üner, stated that with the announcement of inflation figures and the determination of salary increases for civil servants and retirees, they had lost hope for 2025. Üner said, "As we all know, inflation in 2024 was 44.38%. It was officially announced that the salaries of civil servants and retirees decreased by 5.75% in the last six months. Last year, rent increased by 58.5%, food by 43.6%, school expenses by 91.6%, healthcare by 47.6%, communication by 34%, and clothing by 32.8%. For 2025, inflation is predicted to be at least 21%, as stated by the Central Bank. At the same time, the revaluation rate was set at 43.93%. Taxes on motor vehicles, property tax, and other taxes and fines have been raised accordingly. Thus, the state increased its own collection by 44%, while the increase for civil servants and retirees was only 6+5%. Those who were greedy when raising taxes have now become generous. While all expenses have increased by more than 40%, the salary increase was only 11.3%. We say there should be fairness in the distribution. Salary increases should match market realities. If the pie is growing, everyone’s share should grow too. We demand that salary increases according to inflation be fair and based on actual data. If you want the country to develop, do not make people victims of inflation. You cannot say that a 6+5% salary increase is reasonable when inflation is 21% or higher. We do not accept such an increase. If inflation is this high, then where is the raise?"