Turkish-Armenian lawmaker slams Turkey's 2018 budget as not fair

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish lawmaker of Armenian origin Garo Paylan criticized Turkey's draft budget for 2018 as benefiting the rich and neglecting the laborers and minorities when finance minister Naci Agbal presented the government’s plan on Monday, December 11, CNN Turk reports.

In October, Agbal said budget spending would amount to 762.8 billion liras ($198.8 billion) in 2018, while the revenue is expected to reach 696.8 billion liras ($181.6 billion), including some 600 billion liras ($156.4 billion) in tax revenue.

According to Paylan, all the 80 million people living in Turkey are unhappy.

"Everyone is unhappy. A handful of people are happy but they are afraid of losing their money on the Isle of Man," he said.

"It is the duty of this Assembly to prevent the country from becoming a criminal organization by implementing democratic policies, the rule of law, freedom of the press, and not by buying the S-400."

The lawmaker was referring to the S-400 anti-aircraft missiles that Turkey bought under a new agreement with Russia.