Ankara plans to employ some 2,500 disabled personnel for public sector jobs within six months, a minister said yesterday while speaking about Disability Awareness Week.

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya said the government keeps expanding employment opportunities for disabled citizens while facilitating access to education for disabled youth.

"We had only 5,777 disabled public sector employees in 2002 and this rose to 54,000 since then and will increase," Kaya said at an event on disability awareness. "Overall, the private and public sectors employ about 105,000 disabled employees. We want to increase this number so that our disabled brothers and sisters will be more involved in society," she added.

The country has adopted a set of regulations in recent years to improve the lives of the disabled. The ministry has offered incentives for work places employing disabled citizens since 2014. Businesses creating jobs for the disabled are eligible for free loans and tax incentives as well as partial payment for each disabled employee they hire. Regulations were implemented to increase the employment quota for the disabled and introduced monthly benefits for families with disabled members cared for at home. The disabled are also provided free passes for public transit. Through a state-run employment agency, Turkey provides free loans for disabled entrepreneurs and for projects involving mass employment of disabled people.