Özgür Özel's call to Erdoğan on pension salaries: Come, let's do it together

03.11.2026 13:36

New Party Chairman Özgür Özel, recalling the AK Party's words that it would make improvements for retirees, said, "Come on, say 'A retiree's pension equals one minimum wage' and we will vote with both hands. I will say 'This is done for now' and thank you. But no, last year it was giving below inflation, according to target inflation; now let's give according to normal inflation, let's give a small share from the growth difference—band-aid measures, but they are not announcing them in advance yet."

New Party Chairman Özgür Özel made statements at his party's group meeting regarding pension payments, the problems experienced in agriculture, and the fund investigation. Criticizing the government's preparation of an additional improvement for retirees, Özel called for the lowest pension to be raised to the level of the minimum wage.

In his speech at his party's group meeting, Özel noted the following:

'Wherever we go in Turkey, we hear a separate cry. For thousands of years since agriculture began, even in these fertile lands that have fed humanity, unfortunately we face an agricultural crisis, a nutrition crisis, and food inflation. These things stem from incompetence, lack of merit, favoritism, and lack of planning. It is obvious what the State Planning Organization, established in 1960, did; those who first came and closed down the DPT—first removing its name, reducing its function, and then eliminating it—have now dragged Turkey into a great disaster because of this great lack of planning.

AGRICULTURAL CRISIS AND FOOD PRICES

That disaster is called tea in Rize; hazelnuts in Trabzon, Ordu, and Giresun; pistachios in Gaziantep; dried grapes and table grapes in Manisa; citrus, lemons, and oranges left on the branch in the south; the same disaster in wheat and grains, and a great lack of planning and programming. This weekend, while the same olives that sold for 80-90 lira last year were coming in, they were 40 lira; while I was giving the speech, they had fallen to 30—my aunt warned me; she is selling for 30 the olives she sold for 90 lira last year; last year diesel was 50 lira, now it has exceeded 100 lira. Not 25 years ago before the AK Party, but last year one kilo of olives bought two liters of diesel; now three kilos of olives buy one liter of diesel. There is a sixfold difference in the purchasing power of olives against diesel.  

Not only olive growers, all producers are in revolt. While producers cannot earn money, lemons left on the branch, table grapes are cut at the root, olives are not worth picking, hazelnut growers are going crazy; so what happens in return? At least they are losing money, but does the public eat these products for free? No. Because this is the AK Party's dark order. Olives in the field are 30 lira, in the market 400 lira. Lemon on the branch is 4 lira—Mersin or Antalya must be rebelling now asking where 4 lira is—in the market it is 45 lira. Parsley, the parsley you grow in a pot, a bunch in the field is 5 lira, when you go to the market it is 25 lira. Apple on the branch is 20 lira, in the market it is 75 lira. Carrot is 15 lira, in the market it is 50 lira. That is, because the product that the producer cannot make a living from and cannot harvest becomes exorbitantly expensive for the consumer, and because we have the fourth-highest food inflation in the world. You did not hear wrong. There are 176 countries in the world with lower food inflation than us. This dark order victimizes both the producer and the consumer. An area the size of Thrace that was planted and cultivated before the AK Party is no longer cultivated. When the AK Party came, we had 2.8 million farmers. The population rose from 65 million to 86 million. If you look at the proportion, an additional 500,000 farmers did not come; instead they left, falling to 2 million 300 thousand. Turkey's population rose from 65 million to 86 million, but farmers decreased by 500,000. 500,000 farmers were directly lost, and 500,000 new farmers never entered this business.

When the AK Party came, the average age of farmers was in the 30s; now it has risen to 58. Two out of three young farmers are willing to work in industry for the minimum wage. They immediately leave the tractor, the plow, and the basket, run to industry for the minimum wage, and are willing even to accept that minimum wage on which one cannot make a living. The government that does not give farmers their due imports from abroad everything from wheat to corn, from walnuts to lentils, and even live animals. In other words, the AK Party unfortunately serves foreign farmers, not Turkish farmers. The latest rip-off this dark order has inflicted on farmers is in the Planning and Budget Committee. There is the Agriculture Law that we, with great support, enacted in the past. Under this law, the support the farmer would receive had been placed under legal guarantee. 1 percent. That is, if 1 percent were allocated from the budget this year, 1 trillion 112 billion lira would be given directly to farmers as support. The budget came. What did they put there? 235 billion lira. One-fifth of it. Not 1 percent, but 0.2 percent. One-fifth. You give a transition guarantee, and you put the money for the transition guarantee you gave into the budget. You borrow, and you put it in the budget saying I will pay interest. Whatever promise you made to whomever, you put it in the budget. You passed a law. From the very first day you made up your mind to give support to farmers, you put one-fifth of it in the budget. And you will either give it or not.

In 2027, there is no doubt that the agricultural crisis will deepen. The farmer will be devastated again. Market prices will burn your hand again. This misery in these fertile lands, where even if you plant a person upside down he grows upright, is the work of the AK Party's dark order. And we promise all farmers in Turkey: We will change this dark order, we will establish the new order of the villager, the farmer, the livestock breeder, the beekeeper, and the fisherman, we will end this disaster and make you smile.

CRITICISM OF PENSION PAYMENTS

Not only farmers, 86 million people are struggling to make a living. Those in the most difficult situation are, without a doubt, retirees. Mr. Tayyip has committed the greatest disloyalty in the history of world politics against retirees. On the day Mr. Tayyip came, the lowest pension given by Ecevit's three-party coalition government, which he did not like, was buying eight quarter gold coins. I go into jewelers all over Turkey. I calculate how much the pension is worth. He says to me, 'He has gone traveling province by province, wandering from gold dealer to gold dealer, calculating gold. Forget the gold calculation, sir, give an account of the money towers.' Brother, we will account for that. You account for this cruelty you inflicted on retirees. Where are eight quarter gold coins, where are two quarter gold coins? Before the election, he promised retired civil servants an additional flat 8,000-lira raise; he did not keep it. A retired police officer took his own life in front of the Constitutional Court just weeks ago. The premium days of Bağ-Kur members were to rise to 7,200. He promised in the last election too. He did not keep it; it still stands at 9,000 days. 3600 additional indicator: those not given it are victimized. Those given it but who retired before that are victimized. There is an adjustment law grievance. Nobody turns and looks at those sides. When it comes to the final point, the hunger threshold is 38,000 lira, average house rent is 26,000 lira, the lowest pension is 23,000 lira, and the average pension is 25,000 lira.

Previously, the average pension would be almost close to twice the lowest pension.  Now the pension is 23,500 lira, the average is 25,500 lira. They crushed all retirees like a cola can and squeezed them to the bottom. Now let me show you another situation of retirees. People feel sad when they see it, but not to be sad and ashamed and not look, but to look and take a warning, learn a lesson, and solve these matters. Last time we saw retirees staying at the hotel in Ulus because it was very cheap, experiencing a great drama. Two hundred meters ahead, there is İtfaiye Square; they set up a second-hand market for retirees there so that those retirees could shop. Uncle Hacı came and makes someone else's old things new for himself. There are shoes. Soles worn through, edges burst, 250 lira, take your pick. The unselected, ordinary ones are shoes for 100 lira. Shoes with torn edges are sold for 100 lira. The barefoot retiree goes and buys shoes there for 100 lira, or like Uncle Hacı, makes new for himself what someone wore last year and said, 'This is worn out now, this is dirty, this is unusable,' and threw away or sold, so that it protects him from the cold this winter.

THE FUND SWINDLE AND THE STOCK MARKET

So why are they in this state? Or where did Erdoğan come from, and now he says, 'We will make an improvement for pensioners toward the New Year.' Honestly, will he? I don't think it's anything substantial that will solve the problem. I wish he would. Come on, say 'One pension equals one minimum wage,' and we will vote with both hands together. I will also come out here and say for now this is done and thank them. But no, last year they were giving below inflation, according to target inflation, now they say let's give according to normal inflation, let's give a small share from the growth difference—stopgap measures, but they don't announce them in advance. They keep coming back around to saying improvement for pensioners. Why? Because they had said no when it came to money and raises for pensioners. Now all pensioners, farmers, and tradespeople say, 'Where was the lack of resources? This money stolen in this fund swindle was enough for all of us and was even increasing. You didn't give it to us, but you ate it yourselves, you ruined this country.' The reaction to this has experienced the most dramatic drop in the consumer confidence index since it began being followed in Turkey. In other words, consumers have never lost their trust in the government this much in a single month. The stock market experienced one of the biggest crashes in its history, and it continues to experience it; the worst part is that to stop the crash in the stock market, someone is needed who says 'I'll take it, give it to me' to the one who says 'I'm selling,' but unfortunately our stock market cannot find that investor, that buyer, despite the bottom it has fallen to. Why? There is no trust, there is fear. When people see those who entered the stock market and were devastated, there is anxiety even when approaching the most reliable stocks. "