Revolutionary Pensioners Union protested inflation data in front of TÜİK

Members of the Revolutionary Pensioners Union made a press statement in front of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) building, which announced the inflation figures today, in order to draw attention to the difficulties experienced by retirees.

Retirees gathered behind the banner "We are standing for a decent life in retirement, we will not have our labor and dignity stolen", carrying signs saying "We want justice in foreign exchange, income, taxes and retirement", "We want justice in retirement", "A decent life in retirement is a right", "Our problem is an honorable life" and "Enough is enough, we can't get by", "We will not surrender to misery", "We will win by resisting", He chanted slogans such as "We want to live humanely" and "Not for money, but for our dignity".

"WE WILL HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT YOU STEAL FROM OUR TABLE"

DİSK Revolutionary Retirees Union Chairman Cengiz Yavuz started his statement by commemorating retired police officer Ali Şekeroğlu, who killed himself in front of the Constitutional Court in Ankara on September 25. "We know the device that ignores the fire in the throat of the people before us, stifles the truth in order to please its masters, and weaves a curtain of lies: TÜİK," said Yavuz, and continued as follows:

"We have already changed the name of that institution; it now goes down in history as the 'institution of producing falsification and drying up the mercy'. TÜİK is keeping inflation down on paper with desk-based instructions. However, in the bazaar, market and street, the pensioner's table is being torn to shreds and his life is being made miserable. While the statistical jugglers are filling their baskets with imaginary prices, the pots are empty, the natural gas radiators are freezing cold, and the kitchen counters are waiting in the retiree's house. TurkStat's report Their fake formulas serve to cover up the bread that is stolen from our pockets every month, the fruit that we cannot bring to our grandchildren, and the electricity bill that we cannot pay. The poverty allowances that are given to us clearly mean a call to 'starve and leave silently without being a burden on the budget'. Let those who throw us into the pits of hunger with their root-money cunning, mobile raise tricks, and welfare share lies know that this is the account for every olive you steal from our tables and every penny you steal from our pockets. We will ask in the squares. We are calling out from the squares to that arrogant mentality that sees us as a burden on the budget: The real parasites on the backs of this country are none other than the profiteering gangs who seize the dry bread on the people's table and give our sweat to the interest barons."

"MAKE HEALTH CARE COMPLETE, UNCONDITIONAL AND FREE OF MONEY FOR PENSIONERS"

Yavuz stated that they asked the government to "immediately put an end to the pension trickery and the base of poverty" and that they demanded that the lowest pension be moved to a level worthy of human dignity and above the real poverty line.

Yavuz said:

"Immediately pay the net additional increase to the base that will cover our purchasing power that you have evaporated with fake inflation games. Pass the adjustment law in the Parliament that will eliminate this bleeding injustice between retirees whose salaries are stamped because they paid the same premium and retired on different dates. Stop deducting money from people who have paid health premiums for a lifetime under the name of examination contribution, prescription and medicine difference at the hospital gates. Make health care complete, unconditional and free for retirees. Housing crisis in the face of exorbitant rents "Provide direct rental assistance to retired people, and meet the most basic vital needs such as electricity, water and natural gas, with state guarantee, by considering them as basic public rights for retired households."