DEVA Party Chairman Ali Babacan shared his views on current issues at the Yeni Yol Group Meeting. Highlighting that justice is a broad concept, Babacan said, "Justice is not only about swift and fair decisions in the judiciary; it also means equal opportunity. Justice also means equal opportunity among our youth in education and when entering the workforce.
It is truly difficult to take university entrance exams and graduate from a good school, but the situation is also very challenging for young people striving to start their careers after university. There is an interview system where, regardless of how well our youth score on the KPSS exam—whether 80 or 90—if they do not align with the interviewers' mindset or political views, unfortunately, they are eliminated in these interviews," he stated.
Babacan described the interview as "a polite name for favoritism" and said, "This interview system must be abolished. Recruitment into the state must be conducted based on objective, fair, open, and transparent principles. Remember, before the 2023 elections, the ruling party saw the situation was tough and the election was close, and they made the same promise. Let's recall Mr. Erdoğan said in rallies, 'We will abolish the interview. Vote for us, support us. The interview will be removed.'"
"Just like with interest rates... They won the election, secured the 50+1 majority, and then forgot their promises. The interview system continues as before. They won the 2023 elections but did so by deceiving. They did not keep their promises. They won, but not honorably," he added.
Babacan also addressed the rights demands of paid teachers, saying, "Imagine someone working as a paid teacher not for three, five, or ten years, but for 20 years without any retirement rights. Those teaching under these conditions without knowing what tomorrow holds are making great sacrifices. This can only be done out of love for the profession and the country.
It is impossible to work under these conditions otherwise. Therefore, my call here is that there should be a trial period of three, six months, or a year for paid teachers, as in any employment relationship. But if this employment becomes permanent, it must be officially recognized. Their salaries should be reasonable and aligned with other teachers, and they must absolutely benefit from retirement rights.
Not doing this, I openly say, is oppression and a violation of rights," he said. This section contains reference points related to the topic.
"Number of layoffs in the ready-to-wear sector has reached 390,000"
Babacan argued that problems cannot be solved without improving economic conditions, lowering financing costs, and bringing interest rates to reasonable levels, and said the difficulties will continue to affect wider groups. He stated, "We hear the voices of those who work but do not receive their rights, but there are also those who have been laid off and dismissed. The number of layoffs in the ready-to-wear sector has reached 390,000.
In just the last year, 19,000 people were laid off in Istanbul's Kuyumcukent alone. When laid off, there are no rights left to claim. Suddenly, their salary drops to zero, and they find themselves on the street. The problems are huge, very big, and unfortunately, those in power are diverting attention from these problems they themselves created. They portray the problems as caused by others," he evaluated.
"You cannot reduce inflation with police measures and trusteeships"
Regarding the operation conducted last week in the white meat sector, Babacan said:
Red meat prices in Turkey are very high. It has become one of the countries consuming the most expensive meat in the world, and we have a meat sector and live animal sector increasingly dependent on imports. The losers here are local producers and millions of citizens, while the winners are a handful of importers close to the government.
Monopolistic relationships have been established with every country regarding meat imports. However, the situation is the opposite in the white meat and poultry sector. Citizens who can no longer afford red meat can only provide protein to their families with chicken and white meat. There are significant price differences. The poultry and white meat sector, which has been supported for a long time, has truly grown in Turkey.
The scale has increased, and it has become a sector that meets domestic demand and exports abroad. According to information from within the sector, at the beginning of Ramadan, they said, 'Inflation is high, do not raise prices this Ramadan.' They turned to the white meat sector and tried to prevent price increases by directive to reduce inflation. Then they said, 'Are you the ones who don't listen to us? We will ban your exports and see how you manage.' This conflict escalated until it led to this judicial operation... This is unprecedented in Turkey. Suddenly, all managers and owners of a sector were detained and trustees appointed. This cannot be the way to reduce inflation. Turkey has a Ministry of Trade and a Competition Authority.
The responsibility for this issue lies with the Ministry of Trade and the Competition Authority. If there are allegations or collusion to keep prices high, there are special regulations for that. But if you suddenly detain and arrest people who have invested and taken risks in the sector for years by categorizing any price issue as organized crime, you undermine trust.
In this way, people will no longer invest in Turkey. Yet, the most important way to reduce inflation is to increase investments and production. The more investment and production there is, the more inflation will fall. You cannot reduce inflation with police measures, detentions, and trusteeships. Tomorrow, these producers will give up production. They will gradually close their facilities.
Production will decrease, and then you will see a big wave of inflation hitting again. I openly say, the culprit and responsible for inflation in this country is the government itself. Look nowhere else. Who secretly sold $130 billion from the Central Bank's back door? Let's not forget these. They are now trying to fight the inflation they themselves caused.
Inflation in Turkey was not created by outsiders or others coming from abroad.
