Minister Işıkhan: Municipalities have a debt of 196 billion.

26.04.2025 23:10

The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vedat Işıkhan, announced the amount of debt of municipalities during a live broadcast he participated in. Minister Işıkhan stated, "We are approaching all municipalities equally; debts must be paid. Municipalities have a total debt of 196 billion."

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Minister of Labor and Social Security Prof. Dr. Vedat Işıkhan made statements regarding the agenda on CNN Türk live broadcast. Minister Işıkhan announced the total debt amount of municipalities.

HERE IS THE TOTAL DEBT AMOUNT OF MUNICIPALITIES

Minister Işıkhan said: "We have only one source of income for the sustainability of our social security system. This income is the insurance premiums we collect from our employers and public institutions. However, before the May 31 elections, after the statement made by our President regarding the payment of premium debts, we have been in close communication with all municipalities. I want to express that we approach all municipalities equally, regardless of political party affiliation.

"PREMIUM DEBTS NEED TO BE PAID TO SGK"

Those who pay premiums regularly, because after paying wages to our workers, premium debts must also be paid to SGK. In this context, I would like to thank all our municipalities and mayors who pay their premiums regularly. Because we have a great need for these premiums to ensure the sustainability of our social security system and to maintain the balance of inputs and outputs. However, we have noticed that some municipalities are struggling more due to their premium debts and have taken actions regarding not paying their debts. In fact, the most logical method is for mayors to have a financial responsibility. As a financial responsibility, premiums need to be paid to SGK.

"MUNICIPALITIES HAVE A DEBT OF 196 BILLION LIRA"

In the program from 2-3 months ago in March, it was 96 billion, but now an additional 100 billion has been added to this amount with interest. Currently, municipalities have a debt of 196 billion lira. We realized that this is unsustainable and we have reached out to our municipalities and mayors. Because our main goal as SGK is to ensure communication and to invite them to pay their premium debts. Many municipalities have cooperated with us.

"149 MUNICIPALITIES APPLIED TO SGK TO PAY THEIR DEBTS"

Regarding your question, a total of 149 municipalities have applied to SGK to pay their premium debts amounting to 30 billion. During this process, we actually expressed to our municipalities that they can either pay their premium debts in installments or they can show us their real estate that does not have any encumbrances or mortgages and can use them as collateral, and we could restructure their debts.

"WE APPROACH ALL MUNICIPALITIES EQUALLY AND FAIRLY"

Our goal here is to approach all municipalities equally and fairly without considering political party affiliation. My most important concern here is to collect premiums. It does not matter to me whether it is Municipality A or Municipality B. Additionally, there have been speculations in this regard. We are unfortunately following this with sadness. Within this framework, so far, our total collection amount by SGK is 28.2 billion.

A debt that existed in previous periods is not being paid. There is an intention not to pay from the mayors. However, after the statement of our President, all municipalities, especially those with premium debts to SGK, are contacting us. Currently, a collection of 28.2 billion lira has been realized."