CHP to take to the streets to protest pensioner poverty after parliament vote
emekli
Summary:
Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has announced nationwide street protests over what it calls “deepening pensioner poverty,” following parliament’s approval of a bill raising the minimum pension to 20,000 lira. CHP leader Özgür Özel said the parliamentary phase of the struggle was over and vowed to challenge the law at the Constitutional Court while mobilizing retirees and workers in public squares across the country.
Parliament approves minimum pension hike
The Turkish parliament, chaired by Deputy Speaker Celal Adan, has completed deliberations on legislation increasing the minimum pension to 20,000 lira. The bill was approved by the General Assembly, despite strong opposition from the CHP and other opposition parties.
CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who closely followed the final debates in the chamber, addressed reporters after the vote, praising his party’s parliamentary group for what he described as a two-week-long protest campaign inside the legislature.
Özel: “This became Türkiye’s top issue because of our resistance”
Özel said CHP lawmakers refused to leave parliament for 14 days after the minimum pension was initially announced at 19,000 lira, staging continuous protests to draw attention to the plight of retirees.
“From the moment the figure was announced, our group reacted strongly,” Özel said. “For two full weeks, our MPs stayed in parliament day and night, giving voice to millions of retirees. If this issue is now at the top of Türkiye’s agenda, it is because of that resistance.”
He argued that the tension seen during parliamentary sessions reflected growing public anger and mounting pressure on ruling AK Party lawmakers.
Clash over protest symbolism in parliament
Özel also condemned what he described as unprecedented behavior in parliament, accusing some AK Party group leaders of physically attacking protest materials brought to the podium to symbolize pensioner hardship, including a coffin representing retirees “being driven into poverty.”
“This is not something the parliament has ever seen,” he said, adding that the incident had embarrassed the ruling party itself. “Defending a pension of 19,000 or 20,000 lira is indefensible. Those who voted against retirees did not raise their hands for pensioners — they raised them against them.”
Özel claimed that government lawmakers resorted to aggression because they could not justify their vote to the public. “They have no ability to go out into the streets and defend this decision,” he said.
“The real fight begins now, in the streets”
Declaring the parliamentary phase over, Özel said the CHP would now shift its focus to public mobilization. “This struggle is no longer in parliament,” he said. “It will continue in the streets, in the squares, and wherever retirees live.”
He confirmed that the CHP will formally challenge the law at the Constitutional Court, arguing that it violates constitutional principles including the right to a dignified life, equality, social justice, the rule of law, and the right to health.
“If the state sets a minimum wage and penalizes employers who pay below it, then the state itself cannot pay its own retirees less than the minimum wage,” Özel said.
Broader political implications
The pension debate has become one of the most sensitive political issues in Türkiye amid persistently high inflation and rising living costs. Retirees, whose fixed incomes have lagged behind price increases, have increasingly emerged as a vocal constituency.
CHP officials say the protests aim not only to reverse the pension decision but also to highlight what they describe as broader failures in social policy. With opposition parties signaling coordinated action and street demonstrations planned nationwide, pensioner incomes are set to remain a central issue in Türkiye’s political agenda in the coming weeks.
Source: Turkish Parliament, CHP statements
Keywords: CHP, pensioners, minimum pension, Özgür Özel, Turkish parliament, cost of living, protests
Meta: Türkiye’s main opposition CHP announced nationwide protests and a Constitutional Court challenge after parliament approved a minimum pension of 20,000 lira, calling the move a violation of retirees’ right to a dignified life.
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