AKP government gave nonprofit organizations 1.1 bln liras in 2020

Duvar English

One of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) commonly used tools of redistributing public wealth to private entities, nonprofit organizations received some 1.1 billion Turkish Liras in 2020 alone, the daily BirGün reported on Aug. 24. 

Funds transferred to nonprofits in 2021 totaled 500,764 liras by the end of July, and the amount for 18 years surpassed a shocking 10 billion liras, with each year observing a hike in the budget item. 

The Education Ministry financed nearly half of the spending on nonprofits, transferring 431 million liras to said organizations in 2020.

The Health Ministry came in second with 152,673,000 liras spent on nonprofits in 2020, followed by the Culture and Tourism Ministry that spent 133,521,000 liras on said organizations. 

The Youth and Sports Ministry came in third with 111,598,000 liras transferred to nonprofits, followed by the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) that dispersed 77,795,000 liras to nonprofit associations. 

Nonprofits also received funds from agencies within the government that have separate budgets, with the Turkish Standards Institution coming in at the top with 14.369 million liras spent for said organizations. 

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) came in second with 656,000 liras spent on nonprofits, followed by the Isparta Applied Sciences University that totaled 164,000 liras handed over to organizations.  

Treasury data showed that funds reserved for nonprofit organizations out of public budgets spiked 122-fold between 2004 and 2020, hiking from 9.1 million liras in 2004 to 1.1 billion liras in 2020. 

Over a billion liras in 'donations,' 83 mln liras unaccounted for

Chaired by Diyanet head Ali Erbaş, Turkey's Religious Affairs Foundation received some 1,000,098,000 Turkish Liras in donations in 2020 alone.

Only 326 million liras of the donations were allocated to social services, according to the foundation's budget, and 83 million liras of their spending was unaccounted for in the official documents. 

The total income of the foundation reached 1.275 billion liras, observing a 120 percent increase in the past seven years and spending some 79 percent of their income.

The second-largest spending item on the foundation's budget was "charity and volunteer work" that cost 285.8 million liras, followed by education and research that totaled 114.1 million.