The Turkish government has allocated a remarkable size of its budget for July and August of 2012 to 'security', spending at a higher rate in the mentioned two months than the first six months of the year. In the face of the outstanding budget deficit, which is caused by the considerable increase in operations and clashes in the Kurdish territory since late June, the AKP government has invoiced this deficit to the people by means of new raises and taxes.

In an interview to ANF about the ‘security spending’ which is the major cause for the budget deficit in Turkey, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Þýrnak deputy Hasip Kaplan said that a major part of the budget deficit in 2012 has been caused by the spending by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Turkish Armed forces (TSK) as well as police and gendarmerie forces.

In respect to the budget deficit, Kaplan pointed to both AKP government’s war policy against Kurds and the recent developments in Syria; “In 2012, the government didn’t only keep operations going both inside and outside the country but also created unforeseen spending for the conflict in Syria.”

Remarking that Turkey’s rate of growth has remarkably decreased in recent years, Kaplan noted that the government is therefore trying to cover up this deficit by means of taxes and ideological raises, like the price increases on fuel oil, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.

Kaplan noted that the current law on the court of accounts doesn’t allow the Parliament to supervise the military spending which was 732 million TL between January and June of 2012 but reached 846 million TL in the months of July and August.

According to BDP deputy Kaplan, the budget deficit problem in Turkey could be resolved by ending military operations and the conflict environment and starting negotiations.