ANKARA - HDP Diyarbakır MP Garo Paylan noted that the defense budget was TL 44 billion in 2014 during the solution process but the war expense increased fourfold with the war policies.
The Democratic Party of Peoples (HDP) Diyarbakır Deputy and Parliamentary Plan and Budget Commission Member Garo Paylan answered our questions regarding the 2020 Central Government Budget Law Proposal.
You defined the previous period budget as “war budget”. How do you assess the increase in defense items in the 2020 budget?
When we look at the budget for 2014, during which the peace process continued, the budget of all security items was 44 billion TL. Because there was no budget expense for guns, cannons, tanks, missiles and etc. The budget was used for workers, farmers. As a result, our people benefited from these social policies. However, when we evaluate the year 2015 and after the end of the peace process, this budget allocated 44 billion TL in the peace process will presumably reach 160 billion TL in 2019. In other words, the war budget has increased fourfold since the end of the peace process.
It increases more in the 2020 budget. It is increasing in the budget of 2020. 150-160 billion TL will be spent this year. If there is a war budget and actual war situation in the next year, we can say that these figures will rise to much higher levels. 120 billion TL was projected from last year's budget. We have not seen the exact account, but my estimate , 160 billion TL will be spent.
Missiles, tanks, weapons, bullets are used in the operation against Syria and billions of liras are spent. Let our citizens be sure, every missile, every bomb from the f-16 planes are falling on our kitchens, pockets.Because every last one of those bombs dropped from F-16's costs millions of Liras. The war budget is being cut from our kitchen expenses. We are getting poorer together by the day. Because most of the budget resources are allocated to the war budget.
Is the expenditure of the National Syrian Army used in the Turkey's attack against North and East Syria reflects to our budget?
It reflects to the defense costs. It also reflects in the budget items. This is happening in various ways. District governors were appointed to Jarablus, Azez, Afrin line. There are many civil servants working there. Education, health, road construction, hospitals, such as very serious money is spent. Besides, there are thousands of armed elements there. Their salaries are paid. They already confessed this by themselves. But we see that they do most of this from the discretionary fund. Because in order to pay from the open budget, they have to make them civil servants by law. Discretionary fund has also increased 10 times in the last 5 years. It has reached very serious figures. A discretionary fund has been defined for the President and has no limit. The President may spend as much as he wants from the discretionary fund. The numbers of the jihadist elements in Syria, which is said to have reached ten thousand, their salary payments, costs of their weapons are from Turkey's budget.
After 2015, discretionary fund figures increased exponentially. This is because,Turkey pays for the jihadists elements from Turkey's budgets. Not only from the discretionary fund , but from other ministerial budgets have been allocated there.