Türkiye will soon announce an accessibility declaration for the disabled community to have easier access to digital-based services through websites and mobile apps, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday.
Speaking at an event to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in the capital of Ankara, Erdoğan praised the event’s significance in raising awareness of disability issues and reiterated the need to lend “genuine” support to the community.
The Turkish president touted a long history of disability care in Turkish history, starting with the Seljuks and the Ottomans, who he said provided education “beyond the modern age” and high-level roles to numerous disabled people.
“We consider the elimination of injustices against our disabled citizens the fundamental duty of our government,” Erdoğan told the crowd, stressing, “Nobody can be discriminated against or be considered a second-class citizen in the Republic of Türkiye.”
Türkiye’s disabled population makes up about 7% of the populace.
Under successive Justice and Development Party (AK Party) governments, people with disabilities have been among the major beneficiaries of upgraded welfare programs. After the Disabled Act was implemented in 2005, welfare provision programs for people with disabilities were diversified.
Those include monthly home care assistance for the carers of the disabled, monthly disability allowance for disabled individuals and at-home health care provisions. Türkiye also offers free public transportation, tax deductions, exemptions and discounts on utility bills for the disabled, who also benefit from early retirement options.
The country also increased the number of people with disabilities recruited in the public sector through mass hiring in recent years. It imposed compulsory employment quotas for the disabled in the private and public sectors.
“The number of disabled civil servants, which was barely 5,000 in 2002, has reached 71,000 today,” Erdoğan said.
Currently, his government gives home care assistance of TL 7,608 (approximately 44% of the net minimum wage) monthly to disabled caring houses and more than 750,000 families are beneficiaries.
The disabled are also paid disability allowances between TL 2,797 and TL 4,196, according to the disability rate.