Süleyman Çelebi, deputy for the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) criticized the plan of the Labour Institution of Turkey (İşkur) that foresees a reduction of unemployment benefits to the duration of five months by the year 2015.

Until now, the duration of subsidies was graded at 180, 240 and 300 days depending to the premium payment period. In their strategic objectives for the time span between 2011 and 2015, it is one of İşkur's declared aims to reduce the duration of subsidies to five months until the end of 2015.

"More people should benefit from the fund more easily"

CHP deputy Çelebi said it was unacceptable that with thousands of unemployed people in Turkey the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) set an eye on the rights of the unemployed. He announced that the CHP would follow this matter up in parliament and listed the necessary steps as follows:

* The number of people benefiting from the unemployment insurance should be increased by changing the eligibility criteria. More unemployed people should be able to benefit from the fund by expanding the base.

* The duration of unemployment benefits should be increased. The duration of unemployment benefits in Turkey lags far behind the European average. The durations should be taken to this level as a priority.

* The amount and duration of unemployment payment should be increased. This subsidy is limited to the minimum wage at most but it should be determined by taking into consideration the minimum living standards of people (family, children, housing, transportation and nutrition).

* The unemployment insurance is part of the accumulated funds. It should be used effectively to bring the unemployed back into employment again. The unemployment fund has to be transferred to areas like vocational training for the unemployed, professional development and training for education, employment counselling and job placement.

"The fund was not used for its actual purposes anyways"

The Secretary General of DİSK, Tayfun Görgün, emphasized that the eligibility criteria of the Unemployment Insurance Fund were quite strict. Apart from using the fund for its purpose, Görgün mentioned that a plan was made to transfer the resources of the fund to the capital environment.

"By the end of 2010, it was announced that Turkish Lira 60.6 billion had accumulated in the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Only a part of TL 3.75 billion was used for unemployment insurance benefits. In the years of 2008, 2009 and 2010, a total of TL 9,105,395,000 was transferred to the Treasury. With these 'significant' payments made to the unemployed as understood from the data, this shows us how the fund has been looted by transferring resources to the capital". (NV/VK)