There are approximately 16-17 million pensioners, widows and orphans in Turkey. Together with their families, this number exceeds 30 million. In other words, almost one out of every two people in this country lives directly or indirectly in the pension regime. Despite this, retirement is no longer a civil right in the language of the political power; it is clearly coded as a “budget burden”.
We saw this language at its barest form in the following sentence of Mehmet Şimşek, the Minister of Treasury and Finance:
“Eid bonus for pensioners? Where in the world has such a thing been seen?”
This is not a moment of anger or a slip of the tongue. It is not a technical statement of fiscal discipline. It is an ideological confession that shows the point to which the idea of the welfare state in Turkey has been dragged. Because in this sentence there is no “right”, no “citizen”, no “return for labor”. There is only cost. There is only burden. There is only a crowd to be tolerated.
Pensioners respond to this language with a very simple but very shocking question:
“Where in the world has there ever been a member of parliament who had the right to retire the day he was elected?”
This question is not populist. This question is not emotional. This question is systemic. Because the issue is not individual privileges, but the fact that privilege itself has become a regime. Unlimited security for the elected, limited life for the working... Turkey's current social injustice lies precisely in this contradiction.
Pensioners are not a minority in this country. Approximately 16-17 million pensioners and beneficiaries are close to one third of the voting population. Taken together with their families, they affect a social area close to half of the country. Despite this, pensioners are either invisible in public debates or are only referred to as “those who need to show patience” and “those who need to make sacrifices”.
This ignoring is no coincidence. The great masses are rendered invisible because if they become visible they will be held to account. Pensioners are rendered invisible because their existence is a constant reminder of why the social state does not work. Because pensioners are living proof of why working in this country does not produce security.
Throughout the AKP rule, pensions have been stripped of being a social right and have been pruned step by step through technical regulations. The 2008 Social Security Reform is the breaking point of this process. With this reform, the Monthly Pension Rate was dramatically reduced; rates that were 60-70 percent in the past were reduced to 30 percent. Citizens with the same number of premium days were condemned to completely different salaries only because of the year they retired. Labor has been devalued against the calendar.
Today, the lowest pension is below the hunger line and far below the minimum wage. Retirement no longer means rest, security and dignity. Retirement means a survival regime. This picture is not an economic necessity. It is a conscious political choice.
As of 2026, the lowest pension in Turkey is approximately 19,000 TL. In the same period, the minimum wage was significantly higher. For a pensioner living alone in metropolitan areas, this salary is not enough to cover even housing and food expenses.
Approximately 9-10 million pensioners receive a salary below 22,000 TL. 4-5 million pensioners are in the 22,000-30,000 TL band. The rate of those earning over 30,000 TL is below 15 percent. Those earning 40,000 TL and above are the statistical exception to the system. In other words, the overwhelming majority of pensioners in Turkey are forced to live on an income lower than that of a minimum wage worker.
It is therefore not surprising: Today, about one in four retirees in Turkey continues to work. This is not “active ageing”. It is an open admission that retirement is not enough to make a living. If people are working even though they are retired, the problem is not with the individual but with the system.
However, it would be inadequate to say that the government is solely responsible for this situation. The fact that the opposition has watched the minimum wage remain below 30 thousand TL for two years inevitably makes the so-called “radical” outbursts today when pensions are announced tragicomic. Those who yesterday called for “reasonable politics”, “balance” and “realism” while the minimum wage was being eroded, today, when the pensions are announced, they suddenly embrace the rhetoric of “opening a white page”. However, a white page is opened when a dirty book is closed. While there is a notebook that has not been closed for two years, and every page has been filled with silence, this exit is not radical; it is a belated gesture and a bitter irony for pensioners.
Another pillar of this silence can be seen in the organized structures of pensioners themselves. Despite the claim that they represent millions of pensioners, pensioners' unions and associations have become largely dysfunctional and symbolic structures. They are absent on the streets, absent at the table, absent in setting the agenda. Most of the time they are stuck in the press release routine and have lost the capacity to generate political pressure. The anger of the retired cannot be transformed into an organization and the voice of the organization into politics. This dysfunction cannot be explained only by repression; it is also the result of comfortable opposition and low-risk representation.
The name of this preference is neoliberalism. The neoliberal state mind sees social spending as inefficient, rights as luxuries and pensioners as burdens. In Michel Foucault's terms, a clear biopolitics is at work here: The state decides whose life is to be supported and whose life is to be maintained at a minimum level. Patience is inculcated in the pensioner, gratitude is taught to the pensioner; but justice is not offered to the pensioner. Because justice is costly and privilege must be protected.
This is why the debate on the Eid bonus is important. The holiday bonus for retirees is not a voluntary social state reflex of the government. This right was brought to the agenda by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's persistent political push and public pressure; it was rejected for a long time as “populism”, “a burden on the budget”, “an irresponsible promise”; however, it was accepted in the election atmosphere. More importantly, it was explicitly promised to raise the lowest pension and bonus to the level of the minimum wage. This choice was not used. Today's poverty is the result not only of government policies but also of unused political options. Democracy produces results.
The long-term orientation of retirees towards the ruling bloc cannot be explained by simple loyalty. This is a fragile consent based on income insecurity, state dependency and uncertainty. However, this consent is not permanent. It dissolves as the loss of real income deepens. The growing unrest among pensioners today shows that this breaking point is approaching. Silence is not consent; silence is often the sociological form of accumulated anger.
Today, the pensioner is embarrassed when he asks for his rights. “There is no budget,” they say. “This is the world”. At the same time, political privileges are not questioned; comfort is sanctified. This is a perversion of justice. It is a clear violation of Aristotle's understanding of equity. Right is shame, privilege is normal.
However, the solution is clear and political. The lowest pension should be raised to the level of a decent living, at least the minimum wage. The Monthly Binding Rate should be increased and the premium-salary relationship should be made fair. The holiday bonus should be structured as a regular and meaningful social right, rather than a symbolic one. The pension system should be redesigned in such a way that it can share in economic growth. Retirees should be recognized as citizens with rights, not as objects of social assistance.
This article is not a complaint.
This article is not a petition.
This article is an objection that says that the denial of retirement is the liquidation of citizenship.
Retirement is not a blessing.
Retirement is not a cost.
Retirement is the deferred entitlement to a lifetime of work.
A system that ignores pensioners also ignores tomorrow.
Pensioners are silent, but silence is not consent.
And history will not forgive those who do not hear the silent cry of pensioners.