Reaction from an AK Party member to the minimum wage increase: It does not align with 22 years of policies.

The minimum wage increase for 2025, which millions of workers have been waiting for, has been announced. Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan stated in a statement this evening that the net minimum wage, effective from January 1, 2025, has been set at 22,104 lira.

REACTIONS CAME IN RAPIDLY

Rapid reactions to the 2025 minimum wage increase came from the main opposition party, CHP. Among the reactions to the increase decision, AK Party member Şamil Tayyar used striking expressions.

"DID NOT ALIGN WITH 22 YEARS OF SOCIAL POLICIES"

Şamil Tayyar stated the following in a statement he made on his social media account:

"The new minimum wage has been announced as 22,104 lira with a 30% increase. While the revaluation rate for all taxes, fees, and fines in the new year has been set at 43.93%, and the inflation rate for 2024 is around 45%, limiting the increase in the minimum wage to 30% is unacceptable. It does not align with the AK Party's 22 years of social policies. I am sorry."

"I INVITE THE WORKING CLASS TO USE THEIR POWER"

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who reacted to the new minimum wage, stated on his social media account, "This is the last sign that Tayyip Erdoğan has disconnected from the realities of this country." Özel used the following expressions:

"The minimum wage of 22,104 TL, determined hastily in today's Commission meeting, is the last sign that Tayyip Erdoğan has disconnected from the realities of this country. Those who have been saying for days that we have achieved victory in Syria have imposed a humiliating wage on the workers. Those who engage in false heroism over Syria and obscure the real agenda have once again deprived workers of their rights amidst that fog. Since it was first given in January, the minimum wage has eroded by at least 7,000 lira against the cost of living, and they have raised it by only 5,000 lira. While the inflation for minimum wage earners is 80%, even the TÜİK inflation is 47%, millions of minimum wage earners have been crushed by inflation. Shame on those who eat the rights of the workers in this country and take their toll. I congratulate the Türk-İş management for not attending the forced meeting and invite the working class to use their power from production."