Parliament approves 2025 budget after weeks of talks

ANKARA

Turkish lawmakers granted approval over the weekend to the 2025 budget after weeks of deliberations, enacting legislation that projects expenditures of 14.7 trillion Turkish Liras (nearly $420 billion) and revenues of 12.8 trillion liras for the upcoming year.

In the Turkish parliament, budget drafts undergo rigorous scrutiny, first in a specialized commission and subsequently in the general assembly, where the allocations for each ministry are debated individually.

Following 12 days of plenary sessions in the general assembly, the 2025 budget was passed with 317 votes in favor and 249 against.

The entire budget marathon spanned 39 days, encompassing 81 commission sessions and 12 plenary sittings, with an exhaustive total of 415 hours of deliberations.

The parliament, which temporarily suspended its routine agenda, including party group meetings, will resume its regular activities on Dec. 24, following the conclusion of budget discussions.

The 2025 budget reflects a 33 percent increase compared to the previous year’s allocations.

The Treasury and Finance Ministry is projected to receive a budget of 6.5 trillion liras.

The education and health ministries emerged as other top recipients of the budget. The Education Ministry was allocated 1.452 trillion liras, with personnel expenses accounting for 1.03 trillion liras and insurance premium payments totaling 131 billion liras.

The Health Ministry, which received 732.5 billion liras last year, was allocated 1.02 trillion liras for 2025.

This year’s budgetary proceedings were marked by notable incidents. Prior to the Interior Ministry’s budget discussion, a scuffle erupted in the commission when opposition lawmakers attempted to block Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya from entering the meeting room in a protest suspension of some mayors.

The Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum brought a bottle of polluted seawater collected from the Gulf of İzmir. This gesture sparked contentious exchanges regarding the environmental state of the bay.