Three Days Before Turkey’s Presidential Elections, Erdogan Increases Minimum Wage

Three days before Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a 45 percent increase in the minimum wage and promised that a new constitution will be drafted after the elections.

Mr. Erdogan, continuing his relentless election campaign, announced on Wednesday, April 10, that the salaries of at least 700,000 government employees will be increased in line with inflation.

Turkey’s statistics office reported last week that the latest inflation rate was 43.7 percent. According to Mr. Erdogan’s announcement, employees will receive a 45 percent salary increase, bringing the minimum wage of an employee to 15,000 lira. This figure is equivalent to approximately 750 dollars and marks the fourth salary increase in the past year and a half.

He also announced other financial benefits including a 70 percent increase in overtime pay for employees, reduced insurance premiums for some workers, and a 10 percent increase in pensions for the wounded and families of military personnel and terrorism attack victims.

Mr. Erdogan also promised on Wednesday that if he wins the elections, a new constitution will be drafted to ensure civil liberties and judicial independence.

He said that without a strong constitution, the country has witnessed numerous coups and changes in recent decades, but he also claimed that during his two decades in power, he has endeavored to compensate for “centuries-old deficiencies” by focusing on strengthening democracy and development.

Turkey’s presidential election, which will be held on Sunday, May 28, will determine the fate of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 20 years of rule.

However, representatives of Western media reporting from Turkey indicate that the votes of approximately six million young voters casting their first ballots, who apparently show broad support for Mr. Erdogan’s rival, will have a decisive effect on the outcome of these elections.

The outcome of this round of Turkish elections is of great importance for hundreds of thousands of Iranians living in Turkey as well as Iranians within the country who are considering leaving Iran to live in Turkey.

Since 1876, when it was still under Ottoman Empire rule, Turkey has had a constitution that was revised during Kemal Atatürk, the founder of “modern Turkey.” The constitution emphasizes that Turkey is secular, democratic, and republican, and derives its legitimacy from the nation.

The last time, in 1982, when Turkish military commander Kenan Evren took power through a coup, the constitution was changed after a “referendum,” reaffirming the country’s secular and republican character.

Mr. Erdogan’s opponents over the past two decades have accused him and his party of introducing Islam into governance and trampling on the constitution.

Meanwhile, voting among approximately three and a half million Turkish citizens living in other countries ended on the evening of April 20, and Turkish diplomatic missions worldwide have been ordered to transfer ballots from abroad into the country so that votes cast in them can be counted simultaneously with votes on Sunday.

All assessments suggest that given the sensitivity of the elections, a significant percentage of Turkey’s approximately 61 million citizens will vote in Sunday’s election.

Deborah Brown, a Human Rights Watch official, announced that on the eve of the elections, government control over the internet and cyberspace has intensified.

According to news agencies, public sentiment and recent polls conducted last week suggest that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the candidate of the opposing six-party coalition, has relatively good chances of winning, even if the presidential election goes to a second round on June 18.

According to these reports, the “Republican People’s Party” led by Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu may also win more seats in the 600-seat parliament than the “Justice and Development Party” that supports Mr. Erdogan, altering the balance of political forces in the assembly.

However, experts in Turkey have told news agencies that there are still 20 percent undecided votes that could swing the election in favor of 69-year-old Mr. Erdogan and his Islamist party.

Source: Radio Farda