Turkey: Last Summit for Salary Hikes

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin will chair the meeting, in which the parties will try to sign a compromise agreement. The Reconciliation Board foresaw a 10% increase in the salaries of civil servants for the first six months of 2004 and 8% increase for the second six month.

Moreover, the Board decided that a lump sum of 200 million TL should be paid to the civil servants to compensate for their 2003 losses. However, Sahin had said that the inflation target of the government was 12% in 2004 and any increase in the salaries more than this would harm the budget.