Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is being criticized for excessive spending during Republic Day celebrations on Oct. 29. Media outlets reported that the municipality paid TL 69 million for a concert by popular singer Ebru Gündeş, presumably the highest amount paid to a singer by a municipality.
Mayor Mansur Yavaş has announced that they would “investigate” the matter, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) slammed the expenditure, which could have been spent for public services instead. The municipality separately announced that the allegations were “unfounded” and they did not pay anything to the company organizing the concert. The metropolitan municipality, however, appeared to accept the expenditure, claiming it was for two days of events to mark Republic Day.
Critics of Yavaş, however, pointed out that the company in question had already organized a large number of concerts the municipality hosted in the past few years and questioned why Yavaş opted for this specific company to organize such events. The same company was behind a past election campaign of Yavaş, the Sabah newspaper reported Tuesday. Yavaş’s party also issued a statement and said they believed the mayor would not “certainly” let such a high amount be spent unfairly.
The main opposition district municipalities in Istanbul have also come under fire recently for failing to provide sanitation services amid a strike by workers, with piles of garbage polluting streets in Kartal, Ataşehir, Maltepe and Kadıköy districts.
