It was amusing to read in the Turkish press that the last UBP government were highly critical of the current government because civil servant employees had their salaries delayed by one day.
Both UBP party leader Irsen Kucuk and his ex-finance Minister Ersin Tatar condemned the current PM Sibel Siber and said that such occurrences could not be imagined during their leadership.
Even for these seasoned politicians these statements were extreme examples of cynicism. They both claimed that nothing similar ever happened on their watch.
Let”s look into this:
February 26th 2010
Civil servants were not paid. The very same Minister of Finance Ersin Tatar gave out a press statement saying that the money required to pay salaries had not arrived from Turkey.
December 13th 2010
In December, the law requires that the 13th month salary is paid. These were not paid until February 2013.
September 29th 2011
Pensions were not paid. Many pensioners spent hours fruitlessly waiting at banks for their money.
The government of Irsen Kucuk stated that they were short of money to the tune of TL 40 million and could not afford to pay pensioners that month.
September 30th 2011
Civil servants were again not paid on time. Payment was finally made on October 3rd.
November 29th 2011
Pensioners not paid on time.
Council contributions delayed
Budgeted contributions from central government to the councils were often delayed which meant that council employees were in turn not paid on time.
Nicosia Council Employees
The UBP major of Nicosia Cemal Bulutoglu consistently withheld salaries and did not make social security payments for almost a year. He has since resigned and voters replaced him with a TP party major.
The new interim government has stepped up and taken rational and practical decisions; pledged to weed out corruption and has promised and thus far shown transparency.
Hopefully this refreshing and pragmatic approach will be the hallmark of future governments.
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