MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed- War policies of the government and the economic crisis have been deepening poverty in Turkey. As budget talks for the 2023 budget of Turkey continue, people living in Turkey criticize the budgets allocated to war and capital. Döne Gevher, Women's Secretary the Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (KESK), thinks the budgets should be allocated to workers, instead of to war and capital.

‘The budget is used for war, not for workers and people’

Indicating that the government does not care about struggling against increasing poverty, Döne Gevher pointed out that most people, including farmers, students and workers, live on the breadline in Turkey.

“People suffer from poverty and unemployment. The middle class almost disappears in the country. Farmers live on the breadline. Students cannot effectively benefit from the right to education. Actually, the country has budgets for education and fighting poverty; however, budgets are allocated for war policies and capital,” she told NuJINHA.

‘They use war policies to cover poverty and corruption up’

Mentioning that the government tries to cover up its anti-democratic practices and poverty by using war policies, Döne Gevher said, “Budgets should be allocated for ending poverty. The city hospitals, airports and bridges created by public-private cooperation invest in capital. The budgets allocated to them are actually allocated to war policies. While the 2023 budget of Turkey is debated in the parliament, we take to the streets to demand the budget be allocated to public services.”

‘The interests of workers should be taken into account, not capital or war’

The KESK plans to take to the streets and hold a rally after November 30 to demand the budget be allocated to the public services. “In the budget talks, the interests of workers should be taken into account, not capital and war. The 2023 budget must be a democratic, participatory and inclusive budget in order to end poverty. The KESK held rallies with the motto ‘make end meet’ during the last budget talks to demand our share from the budget. This year, we demand our share again. After November 30, we will take to the streets and hold a rally to raise our voices.”