“PROGRAMME ON THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19”
AS ANNOUNCED BY CHP LEADER (REPUBLICAN PEOPLE’S PARTY)
KEMAL KILIÇDAROĞLU
WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER
THE FUTURE IS OURS
STAY AT HOME TURKEY
1. “The Economic and Social Council”, which has not convened since February
2009 and is a Constitutional establishment, must be convened immediately. The
Council must continue to meet periodically throughout the ongoing developments.
. All of the relevant parties must be invited to the Council meeting, including but
not limited to the Turkish Medical Association, the Turkish Pharmacists’ Association,
the Union of Turkish Chambers of Agriculture, the Federation of Progressive Trade
Unions of Turkey. No one must be left out.
2. Medical and accommodation needs of healthcare facilities and healthcare
professionals must be prioritised and met immediately.
3. Staff shortages in public healthcare facilities must be solved quickly and those
healthcare professionals who have been dismissed by the Decree Law and for whom
no final judgment was passed must be reinstated.
4. Being of vital importance both in the fight against the pandemic and in terms of
national security, military hospitals must be reopened without delay.
5. Utmost care must be taken to ensure coordinated operation of the central
government and municipalities in the fight against the pandemic. Efforts to overcome
the problem at hand, initiated by those municipalities which are not from the governing
party, should not be hindered. In this context;
a. No deduction should be made from the funds issued to municipalities by the
Ministry of Treasury and Finance and the Ilbank for one year, and municipalities’
borrowing limits must be increased.
b. Electricity, water, and natural gas supply to households should not be cut off
due to outstanding debts to municipalities or distribution companies. Additionally, no
interest must be charged for the outstanding debts.
6. As far as the businesses, which have been temporarily closed by Presidential
or Ministerial decisions, are concerned;

a. Rent expenses of the craftsmen (excluding Shopping Centres) must be met by
the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
b. Wages of workers employed in such businesses (excluding those benefiting
from the short-term work allowance) must be paid based on the minimum wage
through the Unemployment Insurance Fund and for as long as the business remains
closed.
c. Credit card or consumer loan debts of the employees of such businesses must
be postponed by the banks for three months without any interest charge.
7. Farmers’ debts must be restructured so as to be postponed for one year without
any interest charge.
8. Nearly 100,000 substitute teachers as well as up to 90,000 course
teachers assigned to Public Education Centres have found themselves without wages
when the Ministry of National Education had to shut down the schools. Urgent
legislative action is required to bring relief to these teachers.
9. The GNAT must swiftly pass a “trade registry amnesty” to enable small to
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to obtain bank loans.
10. Bank loans owed by businesses in tourism, entertainment, accommodation and
transportation and similar sectors, which will be hit the hardest by the pandemic, must
be restructured. The Law introducing the “Tourism Promotion Fund” and the
“Accommodation Tax” must be repealed.
11. A law on “Family Relief Insurance” must be passed immediately, providing each
poor family with TRY 2,000 minimum revenue assurance so that the poor and the
unemployed do not have to think about the bills they cannot pay while they struggle
with their health.
12. Healthcare staff, who work around the clock risking their own health during the
pandemic, must receive double pay each month throughout the crisis. Additionally, the
long-awaited “law on preventing violence in healthcare” by healthcare staff must be
passed without delay.
13. Any payments to contractors of motorway, tunnel, bridge, city hospital and
airport PPP projects with Treasury debt assumption commitments must be postponed
for one year and such guarantees must be converted to Turkish Lira.