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On Tuesday, the Turkish government delayed a parliamentary discussion on a proposed credit card tax until 2025. The tax was intended to finance the arms industry amid ongoing conflicts in the region.
Indignant Turks, who already face double-digit inflation, called their banks to lower their credit limits after the governing AKP party submitted the tax bill to parliament on Friday. After the public outcry, the AKP announced Tuesday that it was delaying debating the bill until next year.
"There were certain objections from our citizens, we will examine all of this in detail," said the AKP's parliamentary group chairman, Abdullah Guler.
"We have postponed our discussions and we will reconsider, after the budget, if there are some points to change or remove," he said. The proposed legislation came as Israel's conflicts with Tehran-backed Islamist militants in Gaza and Lebanon, and missile strikes by Iran, have raised global concerns that a broader war could erupt in the Middle East.
"Our country has no choice but to increase its deterrent power. There's war in our region right now. We are in a troubled neighbourhood," Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek told private broadcaster NTV earlier on Tuesday.
The bill stipulated that people with a credit card limit of at least 100,000 liras (nearly $3,000) would have to pay an annual 750 lira ($22) in tax from January to bolster the defence industry. "If we increase our deterrent power, then our ability to protect against fire in the region will increase," Simsek had said, though he added that the bill was in the hands of parliament and that the AKP, could "re-evaluate" it. When he proposed the tax on Friday, Guler said that Israel's next target would be Turkey, an argument often cited by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A vocal critic of Israel's offensive in Gaza and Lebanon, Erdogan doubled down on the threat posed by Israel when addressing a conference hosted by his AKP party on Tuesday. "Even if there are those who cannot see the danger approaching our country... we see the risk and take all kinds of measures," he said.
Turkey's defense industry has enjoyed a boom in recent years but Simsek said the sector still needed a boost. The defense industry is planning to invest in 1,000 projects, including an air defense system that would protect Turkey from missile assaults, Simsek said.
Lewis Musonye
