Erdoğan warns AKP mayors against pompous spending, arrogant behavior

Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has issued a series of warnings for his party's mayors during a meeting with them.

Erdoğan told them to gear up for the June 2023 parliamentary elections, instead of the municipal local elections of 2024.

“No remark of blemish should be talked about for any of the AKP municipalities. You should not allow for any doubt or images of ostentation, waste and arrogance with regards to every issue that would make yourself and us be talked about, from the construction plans to the vehicle you use, to tenders,” Erdoğan said during a meeting in the capital Ankara on Dec. 23.

“Within the AKP, everyone who conducts politics and assumes a task, has to think about their responsibilities towards their country and nation, before their own personal careers...Otherwise, it is sufficient to look at history to see what is going to happen. Pride and conceit would not befit a mayor,” Erdoğan said.

Although the AKP has been conducting anti-waste campaigns nationwide, the party is known to be putting Turkey's resources to waste and undertaking lavish spending.

Erdoğan also touched upon the issue of stray animals during his speech, telling the mayors to place these animals in municipality shelters.

“The place of ownerless animals are not streets, but shelters. I call onto the mayors: make a plan for ownerless animals. By establishing warm and safe shelters, by encouraging the production of animal food with food waste, you might win many hearts,” Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan's comments came after two pit bulls left at the park of a residential complex attacked a four-year-old child in the southeastern province of Gaziantep on Dec. 23. Five people have been detained in connection to the incident. According to the current laws, those who abandon their pets on the street are given administrative fines starting with 2,000 liras in Turkey.