Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Gülcan Kış criticized government spending, presenting data on the first eight months of Turkey’s 2025 budget.
During a press conference at parliament today, Kış shared a chart detailing expenditures of general budget institutions, including parliament, the presidency, ministries, directorates, the judiciary, regulatory bodies, law enforcement, and several general directorates.
According to the figures, 60% of the allocated budgets had been spent in the first eight months of 2025. Two institutions exceeded their allocations: the Directorate for EU Affairs and the National Palaces Administration while other state institutions remained within their budget limits.
The Presidency, spent 9.2 billion liras of its 17 billion lira allocation between January and August. This amounts to 37.9 million liras per day, or 1.58 million liras per hour.
Kış calculated that this equals the cost of 72 workers’ monthly minimum wages every hour. “Workers labor for a month, and the palace consumes their wages in a single minute,” she said.
Prospects dim for Turkey's workers ahead of minimum wage raise
'Wasteful order'
She contrasted recent remarks by Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan, who recently stated that the minimum wage had increased “119 times nominally and 242% in real terms since 2002.”
“You can boast about minimum wage increases since 2002, but no one will be fooled when the palace spends 72 minimum wages in an hour,” Kış said. “Students are left without meals, retirees are denied a decent living, while you wander in palaces surrounded by luxury. Workers toil for a month, and the palace swallows their wages in a minute.”
Kış also criticized Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, pointing out that his ministry spent 4.3 billion liras in the first eight months of the year.
“Şimşek tells citizens to ‘be patient, things will improve soon,’ yet his ministry has already spent billions in just eight months,” she said. “How will the remaining four months be covered? Is this what you call savings? Is this economic discipline?”
Concluding her remarks, Kış accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of wasteful governance. “Today, retirees share their bread, young people seek their future abroad, and farmers cannot sell their crops. Yet the AKP continues its wasteful order in the palace and ministries.
"Those who tell citizens to be patient and tighten their belts consume 72 minimum wages every hour. This is the true face of the AKP: the people go hungry while the palace stays full.” (HA/VK)
