The minimum wage negotiations for 2025 have started in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM).

In the TBMM Planning and Budget Commission, the budget of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for the year 2025 has begun to be discussed. Minister Vedat Işıkhan stated regarding the minimum wage, "We hope that an agreement will be reached on an amount that everyone agrees upon." Opposition deputies reacted by saying, "Can you live on 17 thousand TL, Minister? If there is no 30 thousand lira, then we are not here either."

In the budget, the budget, final accounts, and Court of Accounts reports of the Vocational Qualifications Authority, as well as the Court of Accounts reports of the Social Security Institution and the General Directorate of Turkey Employment Agency will be discussed.

IŞIKHAN: WE EXPECT AN AMOUNT THAT EVERYONE AGREES UPON

Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, regarding the minimum wage that will be valid in the new year, stated, "We hope that an agreement will be reached on an amount that everyone agrees upon," and added: "In the previous period, in the Minimum Wage Determination Commission, we raised the net minimum wage to 17,002 TL. Thus, we have increased the minimum wage, which was 184 TL in 2002, by 254% in real terms. In December, our commission will meet again to determine the minimum wage that will be applied in 2025. We have raised the Minimum Wage Support, which we started in 2016, to 700 lira per month for the year 2024. In the first eight months of 2024, we provided approximately 34 billion lira in minimum wage support to around 1.5 million workplaces."

Opposition deputies interrupted Işıkhan, reacting by saying, "Can you live on 17 thousand TL, Minister? If there is no 30 thousand lira, then we are not here either."