Erdoğan announces lift of age requirement for retirement

Türkiye will eliminate the age requirement for retirement, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced.

"With the arrangement, nearly 2 million and 250 thousand citizens will have the right to retire," Erdoğan told a press conference yesterday (December 28) after a cabinet meeting.

People who do not have retirement rights because they don't meet the minimum age requirement, 60 for men and 58 for women, have been demanding a new arrangement for years, especially on social media.

The government's move comes months before the elections, which are widely anticipated as Erdoğan's most difficult election in his two-decade rule.

"With major rises in minimum wage, public salaries and pensions, we have already shown and continue to show that we stand with fixed-income employees who suffer from the global crisis' effects on our country. This will of ours is also reflected by the new minimum wage we announced last week," Erdoğan remarked.

"Today, we are once again displaying our support by sharing the good news about a step that meets the retirement age expectations of the employees who started to work before 1999. I believe that we will rid the system of any kind of disputes and streamline it through this regulation, which actually means a big sacrifice on the state's part.

"We will continue to share our country's expanding and growing means and capabilities with every segment of our society, particularly in areas related to employment and manufacturing. As in every issue and as always, we implement this regulation for our nation and dedicate it to our nation."

Furthermore, there will be a transition arrangement for people working for a subcontractor and who would not prefer to retire immediately. In addition, there will be social insurance premium incentives for citizens who will continue to work after retirement, said Erdoğan.

The system will likely provide a commercial loan package backed by the Credit Guarantee Fund to help employers paying the severance pay. Skeptics see the system as populist because of its high costs due to the large quantities of retirement bonuses that will be spent in a short time right before the upcoming 2023 elections. (WM/VK)