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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Reforms ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections in June
Photo: IMAGO/Turkish presidency \ apaimages / IMAGO/APAimages
Turkey has abolished the minimum retirement age.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the move on Wednesday.
This will give more than two million citizens the opportunity to retire immediately.
It is still unclear what additional costs will arise for the state.
So far, the minimum age in Turkey was 60 for men and 58 for women.
Workers' associations had long demanded that the only condition should be a minimum number of days worked subject to compulsory insurance.
This requirement remains in place.
The limit for employees is at least 7,200 days, for government employees and the self-employed it is 9,000 days.
High inflation, falling living standards
The decision comes as part of other reforms ahead of the general and presidential elections in June.
Erdoğan's ruling party, the AKP, recently increased the minimum wage significantly.
It should rise to 8,500 lira (around 429 euros) per month from next year.
According to government information at the time, this is an increase of a good 50 percent on July and 94 percent on January 2022. Turkey is facing high inflation, a weak local currency, the lira, and a decline in living standards.
Erdoğan's government and the central bank have responded with sometimes unorthodox financial and economic policies, especially when it comes to interest rates.
There are currently 13.9 million pensioners in Turkey.
According to Erdoğan, an additional 2.25 million could be added immediately under the new rules.
Almost 85 million people live in Turkey.
In Germany, business associations are pushing for an abolition of early retirement at 63. Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said recently that he wanted more people to retire at 67 instead of earlier.
bbr/Reuters