News:

The Minimum Wage Determination Commission held the fourth meeting with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in order to set the minimum wages for the year 2015. After the meeting, where the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey represented the employees and the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations represented the employers, Minister Faruk Çelik, declared that the Minimum Wage Determination Commission had completed its work and announced the new minimum wages. Minister Çelik declared that the new minimum wage is set to increase to 1,202 Turkish lira for the first six months of 2015, and to 1,274 Turkish liras for the second half of the year. Minister Çelik explained that the net minimum wages will amount to 949 Turkish lira ($410) for the first six months of 2015, and to 1,000 liras ($432) for the second half of the year. (Source: cnnturk)

Comment:

The Republic of Turkey is a state that conducts economic activity under the economic plans of colonialist sates which implement capitalist economic policies. Therefore it has embraced capitalism's economic goal of production and increasing productivity. It is said that increasing production would increase national income, and therefore increase per capita income. As a matter of course, according to capitalist economic policy it is necessary to increase production and services in order to increase national income. Because according to capitalist economic policy, human needs are unlimited. Resources however are scarce. Therefore capitalism seeks to increase productivity in order to meet the unlimited needs of human with the limited/scarce resources. It aims at increasing national income through increasing incomes from production and services over making people working longer and more. Thus, there is the need for workers who serve as low paid slaves for capitalism.
In fact, national income does not ensure fair distribution according to the peoples' needs. Regardless of by whom the wealth is owned, development is generally measured upon the amounts of national income. According to capitalists, if one tenth of the population has wealth, while nine of ten are deprived of food, clothing and shelter, total wealth is divided by the total number of population and will determine the national income per capita. This is a very big lie. This is a tremendous policy of exploitation. In fact, the capitalist economic policy makes us to think that way. States who implement capitalist economy system have founded employer's and employees' unions in order to make the society to accept these lies. These unions pretend to be founded in order to protect the rights of the employees and employers.

And here, the statements of the Minister of Labour of the Turkish Republic, as well as the statements of the representatives of the employers' and employees' unions within the Minimum Wage Determination Commission, and expose this policy of exploitation. The representative of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Turk-Is), Nazmi Irgat, says that the minimum wages declared by the government do not correspond to their expectations of minimum wages and that they regard it as insufficient. The representative of the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Unions (TİSK), Metin Demir, expressed his dissatisfaction of the determined minimum wages, stating that "the minimum wage with 6+6=12 has reached a level which we could not even imagine. At the existing employment rate we should also consider that even those who have jobs at the moment might loose their jobs."

This shows, that the government side, as well as the employee unions sides and the employer side are all together only pawns of the capitalist economic policy. They only gild the pill by publishing growth rates and inflation rates which consist only of numbers. The only economic system that will ensure and provide the rights of every individual without distinguishing between them in employed and unemployed is the economic system of Islam. Because Islam does not possess the deluding exploitative idea that income will increase through increased production. Islam has a political system which aims at the distribution of wealth. Therefore Islam looks at every single individual without making a distinction of Muslim or Non-Muslim. And Islam owns a very basic policy that will ensure the very basic needs like food, shelter, health and clothing for every human. The amount of minimum wage that Turkey has determined for the maintenance of a 4-5 person household today is just enough to effort for the rent of necessary shelter. Who is able to protect mankind from the exploitation of capitalism? Of course only the Khilafah "Caliphate" upon the method of the Prophethood, which is the method of ruling in Islam...

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Mahmut KAR