Thousands of Turkish civil servants staged a nationwide strike on Monday to protest what they called ‘insufficient’ government pay offers, amid a cost-of-living crisis that has hit public sector workers particularly hard.

The strike was led by four major public sector unions – Memur-Sen, Kamu-Sen, Birleşik Kamu-İş, and KESK – as part of the eighth round of collective bargaining talks with the government. Workers walked off the job and staged marches and rallies in front of key government buildings in Istanbul, Ankara, and other cities.

The government had proposed a series of incremental raises: a 10% increase for the first six months of 2026, 6% for the second half, and 4% for each half of 2027. In a follow-up meeting, officials also offered a 1,000 Turkish lira ($24) increase to the minimum monthly wage for civil servants. Unions rejected both proposals as insufficient, saying the offers failed to match soaring living costs.

Ali Yalçın, head of Memur-Sen, said the base salary was a critical issue affecting both current staff and retirees. “We requested the minimum wage start at 10,000 lira (around $240) so negotiations could start from there. A 1,000-lira increase is far from........

© Medyascope