Constitutional Court merges lawsuits over civil servant retiree pay increases

The Constitutional Court of Turkey has decided to merge two individual applications regarding the ‘seyyanen zam’ (flat-rate increase) for civil servant retirees. The legal challenge, initiated by Seyfettin Çilesiz, seeks to extend the 8,077 TL flat-rate increase granted to active civil servants in 2023 to their retired counterparts.

Legal representatives state that if the court rules in favor of the retirees, the current equivalent of that increase could reach approximately 25,000 TL. Furthermore, there are claims that retroactive payments could amount to nearly 1 million TL per person for amounts unpaid since July 2023. An estimated 1 million signatures were submitted to the court to expedite the process.

The court's decision to merge the files is a procedural step to allow for a more comprehensive review and does not constitute a final ruling on the merits of the case. If successful, the ruling would specifically apply to civil servant retirees and would not extend to SSK or Bağ-Kur workers.