The AKP/Palace regime is attempting to overcome their defeat, particularly against the guerrilla, despite their superior technological resources, by basing all the economy on warfare. The AKP insists on solving the Kurdish issue through war, and allocates the central budget to “defense” and “security” instead of adequately fulfilling the society’s needs like education and healthcare.

Warfare expenses dominate Turkey’s Central Administration Budget Draft Bill for 2018. The budget draft to be discussed in the Parliamentary Budget and Planning Commission allocates the lion’s share of the funds to armament as part of “security” policies. The draft will be discussed in the commission, and if it is approved it will be sent to the Parliamentary General Assembly and the budget marathon will kick off. The starter budget for defense institutions is set at 92 billion Liras in the draft.

A 28 BILLION INCREASE

While 64 billion 306 million 50 thousand Liras were allocated directly to “security and defense” institutions in last year’s budget, this year the budget is set at 92 billion 718 million 151 thousand Liras. Within one year, budgets for 9 institutions that deal with security and defense alone have increased by a total of 28 billion 412 million 101 thousand Liras. This number was 58 billion Liras for 2016.

Institutions receiving funding from the budget directly for “security and defense” will receive the following amounts for 2018:

Presidency: 845 million 365 thousand

National Intelligence Agency (MİT): 2 billion 335 million 535 thousand

National Security Council Secretariat General: 29 million 158 thousand

National Defense Ministry: 40 billion 402 million 239 thousand

Interior Affairs Ministry: 7 billion 300 million 918 thousand

Gendarmerie General Command: 13 billion 311 million 208 thousand

General Directorate of Security: 27 billion 792 million 655 thousand

Coast Guard Command: 682 million 700 thousand

Public Order and Security Undersecretariat: 18 million 373 thousand

The National Defense Ministry’s 2017 budget was at 28 billion 702 million 119 thousand Liras, and has been increased to over 40 billion Liras for 2018.

PRESIDENCY BUDGET MULTIPLIED

In 2015, the Presidency received a budget of 397 million Liras (apart from the Discretionary Fund). 2016 Presidential budget was 434 million 96 thousand, and 2017 was 648 million. For next year, the starter budget apart from the discretionary fund is set at 845 million 365 thousand Liras.

RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS, HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION

The budget allocated to the Religious Affairs Directorate also stands out. The Religious Affairs Directorate’s budget for 2015 was 5 billion 750 thousand Liras, which was raised to 6.5 billion Liras in 2016. The 2017 budget was 6 billion 867 million Liras. Despite this budget, the RAD asked for 1.3 billion Liras in additional funds and this had created disputes in recent weeks. The RAD, constantly on the public agenda for its spending, will receive a starter budget of 7 billion 774 million 183 thousand Liras for next year.

AKP allocates gargantuan budgets for warfare, and continues to ignore education and healthcare. The budget for National Education Ministry was set at 92 billion 528 million 652 thousand Liras, 63 billion 503 million 243 thousand Liras of which are just workers’ expenses. The starter budget for the Health Ministry was set at 37 billion 571 million 386 thousand Liras. But 16 billion Liras out of this is workers’ expenses, and considering other expenses, healthcare has also been shadowed by defense.