AKP municipality worker ousted for mocking aid recipients

Duvar English

A worker of Istanbul's Başakşehir District Municipality, Fatma Yüksel, prompted outrage online after a video showed her mocking recipients of state aid by altering a speech by the Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on May 25. 

Yüksel altered Atatürk's speech "Address to Youth" to include the basmala and say "Oh Turkish youth! What's up?" as the opening line, going on to list derogatory descriptions of municipal employees' work.

"Your first duty is to work at the Social Help Directorate, to make a list of all the aid packages amid swear words and to hand it over to your colleagues," Yüksel is heard saying in a parody of not just Atatürk's speech but also her own job.

"[Your primary duty is] to say to those crying out for [aid] boxes, 'Here's your damn box!' Your second mission is to call old, sick and disabled people and to reconcile those who cry."

Yüksel went on to mock the municipal program for distributing hot meals to those in need and mocked the national holiday of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day.

The district municipality released a statement on May 25 saying that Yüksel had been removed from her post, that her statements were a result of a mental illness, and that an investigation was also launched into the employee who released Yüksel's video, allegedly without her knowledge.