Main opposition CHP leader pledges to erase interest on debt of farmers

AKSARAY

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Feb. 25 pledged to erase the interest on the debt of farmers if his party takes power in Turkey.

“You owe banks and you owe the Agricultural Credit. They put the interest on it, so you will have to pay the price. How will you pay? I promise I will erase all those interests, you’ll only pay the principle [money],” the CHP leader said on his visits to the Yeşiltepe and Saratlı municipalities in Aksaray province where he also met farmers and tradesmen.

Kılıçdaroğlu stated that the farmers have become poorer 20 times in economic difficulties. “You may not have a car, but you have to eat three times a day. Who will feed us? Farmers. We have to support the farmers who produce in every field. If the country imports its livestock, meat from abroad, that country will not prosper,” he stated.

Emphasizing that one of the most victimized parts of the society are shopkeepers, Kılıçdaroğlu said, “You closed your shops. So how will this person get along? Where is this social state? Who will defend the rights of the tradesman, the farmer, the producer,” he asked.

The CHP leader noted that there are over 10 million people unemployed in Turkey.

“If the potato producer is unable to sell the potatoes he sowed, if the wheat producer cannot afford the wheat he sowed, how will these people make a living?” he asked.

Kılıçdaroğlu called on the citizens to question the government’s management of the economy, noting that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power for the past 19 years.

“I try to do my duty as much as I can. The task falls on you too. We all need to sit down and think. How have they been governing this country for 19 years?” the CHP leader asked.