The same theater every year... Cameras, spotlights, memorized smiles, figures marketed as “good news”... The fate of a country is reduced to a three-digit figure; it is called the minimum wage.
Those who set that figure do not see the trembling hands of the millions who live with that figure, the mothers who read labels in the market and give up, the children who go hungry in the canteen, the fathers who cannot sleep until the morning as the rent day approaches.
The number on paper grows on the table, but in life that number shrinks, melts and disappears every day. What you call the minimum wage was the only lifeline millions of people had; even that has been riddled with holes. They have turned it into a weight that pulls down anyone who tries to hold on.
Life in this country is no longer even “minimal”.
A little breath, a little hope, a little compassion... It's all gone.
People are caught between living and crawling.
The lights in the houses go out earlier; fatigue falls on the eyes earlier. A minimum wage set below the hunger limit while the heart of a country is exhausted is cruelty and insult to the laborers of this country; it is an insult to their human dignity. This contradiction can no longer be hidden. This injustice is exhausting the patience of the people.
A child asks for a bicycle on report card day; his father bows his head and says, “Maybe next year...”. But knowing that next year the same money will buy less bread...
They say the economy is growing.
What is growing?
Hunger? Shame? Silence? The shadow of poverty?
Setting a wage below the hunger limit is a declaration by the rulers that the laborers are out of favor.
Once upon a time, we used to hold on to each other in this land. Everyone had a share in the neighbor's soup. Someone's problem would touch everyone's heart. Now everyone is drowning in their own silence. Poverty is deepening not only in pockets but also in hearts.
Moreover, the table summarizes not just today, but 23 years of meltdown:
In 2002, a quarter of gold was 30-35 TL, today it is 9 thousand TL.
In 2002, the minimum wage was 163 TL; a worker could buy close to 5 quarters of gold.
His pension was 216 TL; the pensioner received 6-7 quarters of gold.
Today?
Minimum wage is 22 thousand TL, pension is 16-17 thousand TL, quarter gold is 9 thousand TL.
Minimum wage earners can only afford 2 quarters of gold, while pensioners can afford 1-1.5 quarters of gold.
Even according to TurkStat's own inflation rate, the purchasing power in 2002 is the equivalent today:
- The minimum wage is 45-50 thousand TL,
- The lowest pension should have been 60 thousand TL.
Gold has multiplied, but the purchasing power of the people has tripled.
On one side, hungry children, empty pots, dark kitchen...
On the other side, BOT guarantees, tax amnesties, KKM privileges, private planes, palaces, reigns
…
This is no longer just economic collapse;
This is outright injustice. It is a robbery in full view of the public.
And is only the government to blame? No, it is not.
The main opposition, too, is detached from the real problems of the people and is buried in seat and leadership calculations.
The agenda of the poor has become more important than the agenda of political cliques.
The hope of millions has been held hostage to the political career of a corruption suspect.
This is also unacceptable.
We know the history of this country:
We fought the War of Independence shoulder to shoulder.
Today, this people deserve a life of dignity.
No seat, no leader, no party is more valuable than the dignity of a human being.
Now the voice of the people will be heard.
The real owners of this country are not a handful of rich people in the shadow of palaces, but the poor, pensioners, workers and low-income people.
Politics should put people, not rent, at its center.
The solution is very clear:
1. The minimum wage will be urgently increased according to the cost of living and indexed to inflation throughout the year.
2. Basic needs will be subsidized.
3. Workers' rights will be strengthened; informal exploitation will be ended.
4. Social assistance and education budgets will be increased; children will not go to school hungry.
5. Tax justice will be ensured; wealth tax will be introduced and tax amnesties will become a thing of the past.
We are no longer numbers.
We are no longer the silenced voice.
We are the demand for life in this country.
We want full justice, not minimum humanity.
We want a dignified life, not a minimum life.
We do not want a minimum wage, but the real value of our labor.
This people will get what they deserve.
And when that day comes, this country will once again be a country of happy people with smiling faces looking to the future with hope, it will smell of humanity!