Social policies to strengthen state-nation bond, says Erdoğan

İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Department of Health and Social Services (İSÖM) organized a football tournament on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities yesterday. Many famous figures such as former football players Hakan Şükür, Tanju Çolak as well as Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin attended to support the disabled football players. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has underlined the significance of making the state more socially responsible to achieve better harmony between the people and the state.   “The bond between the state and the people will take root and be reinforced if we can embrace all segments of society by strengthening the social face of the state,” Erdoğan said in a message he issued on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. He also elaborated on the policies of his government aimed at improving the living conditions of disabled people in Turkey. He reminded the public that some 12 percent of Turkey’s population is disable people, and added that they were largely ignored by previous governments before 2002, the year his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power. Erdoğan noted that the only policies intended to help disabled people in Turkey used to be enacted by municipalities rather than the central government, but that this changed with the AK Party government’s active involvement in policymaking to that end. In a message released on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the bond between the state and the people will take root and be reinforced if all segments of society are embraced by strengthening the social face of the state The number of special facilities administered by the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK) that provides shelter for disabled persons increased from 21 in 2002 to 72 in 2010. Furthermore, a law concerning quotas for employing disabled workers went into effect on Jan. 1, 2010, requiring public institutions to hire more disabled people than mandated by the law in the past. As a result of the law, some 38,000 disabled persons have been able to find employment in the past year. According to the Labor Law and the Regulation on the Employment of Disabled People, the Treasury is required to pay the entire insurance premium of people with disabilities hired within the expanded quota. “We enacted the first law on disabled persons in the republic’s history. We also declared 2005 the year of disabled persons and helped to enhance the infrastructure in the education system and other services for our disabled brothers. We helped to establish special units [for disabled persons] at the level of local administrations. We considered these services not only a political duty and social responsibility, but also a humane and moral priority,” Erdoğan said as he explained other initiatives his government has taken since 2002. Selma Aliye Kavaf, the state minister for women and family affairs, also made a public appearance on the occasion and said, “Our aim is to realize projects that would eliminate the gap between disabled persons and others and also contribute to social solidarity.” According to official statistics, there are over 8 million handicapped people in Turkey; whereas some 10 percent of them have chronic illnesses, only less than 3 percent are visually, hearing, verbally or mentally impaired, with the rest suffering from orthopedic disabilities. One of the main state institutions that provides services for disable persons is the SHÇEK. The agency’s targets for next year is to provide more services for a further 381,000 disabled people in their homes and to increase the number of its special facilities from 72 to 200. Currently over 4,000 disabled persons are living in the agency’s shelters, but this number is expected to grow as high as 15,000 by the end of 2011. The government has also agreed to pay compensation at the level of minimum wage to families who take care of their disabled relatives at home. Currently, over 270,000 people are benefitting from such assistance programs.