Turkish presidential security spends 492 minimum wages per day in January
The Turkish Presidency’s Protection Department spent 251.4 million liras in January 2024, which is equal to 492 minimum wages per day.
Duvar English
Turkey’s Presidential Protection Department spent 251.4 million Turkish liras in January 2024, the daily Cumhuriyet reported on March 16.
The January expenditure of the department, to which the presidential bodyguards are attached, is equal to 8.4 million liras per day, which is 492 minimum wages. A minimum wage worker earns 17,002 liras ($545) in Turkey.
Accordingly, the monthly expenditure of the department was slightly below 100 million liras in January 2023.
The department spent over one billion liras in 2023, and 526.1 million liras in 2022.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is known for traveling around with an army of guards.
Turkey's official statistical authority, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), reported the annual inflation rate as 67.07 percent for February while the independent inflation group ENAG put the figure at 121.98 percent. Millions of Turks cannot make ends meet amid soaring inflation and cost of living crisis.