Launched in 1987, KEY was a state-controlled practice aimed at providing housing for government employees, allowing them to pay for homes in small installments deducted from their paychecks over an extended term. However, the project ended without success in 1995, and people from whom KEY deductions were made sought to recover their money.
Qualifying beneficiaries will be required to visit Ziraat Bankası offices between March 22 and April 4 with their citizenship numbers to collect their KEY payments.
The government started KEY reimbursement payments in 2008; however, some 5 million people did not bother to visit their banks to collect their repayment as they were to receive less than TL 50.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Public Workers’ Rights Labor Union (HAKSEN) said on Sunday that the beneficiaries should each receive an extra TL 655 in KEY payment with default interest included. Speaking to reporters in Ankara on Sunday, HAKSEN President Ayhan Çivi said beneficiaries who had not received any money from the state since July 2008, when the KEY payments first started to be handed out, will have the right to claim the default interest for a 19-month delay in payments. “The state has failed to pay the money to some of the beneficiaries since July 2008. The new KEY payments have to include default interest. Hence, a beneficiary who would have received TL 1,412 in KEY reimbursements in July 2008 should now be paid TL 2,210 with the default interest included.”
The Official Gazette statement said beneficiaries who believe they were not paid the correct amount should speak to their banks or to the Social Security Institution (SGK) before they will be able to claim the difference between the payments.
