Erdoğan’s presidential palace spent 4.5 million lira daily in 2018, Court of Accounts reveals

Duvar English

The presidential palace in Ankara spent 4.5 million Turkish lira daily in 2018, which totaled to annual spending of 1,648,678,000 liras, a report by the Turkish Court of Accounts revealed. 

Staff at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s residence were paid a total of 181 million lira in 2018, with events costing 48 million, catering 5.3 million, clothing 10 million, and cleaning 3.8 million lira. 

With 305 million lira in income and over 943 million in billed spending, the palace was at an official deficit of 637,805,000 lira at the end of 2018.

705 million lira of the palace’s 2018 spending were not itemized in the report. 

President Erdogan was paid 708,000 lira as his annual salary, the report revealed, a monthly 5,700 lira more than his salary in 2017.

All expenses increase

While the pay for contract work doubled from 2017, reaching 107 million lira, wages for staff also increased from 106 million lira from the previous year. 

The palace’s cost of “goods and services” almost tripled, reaching 428 million lira in 2018 from 156 million in 2017. 

Work expenses increased nearly 6,000-fold, reaching 258 million lira in 2018, a number that was at 42,000 in 2017.

Food expenses also doubled from 2017 when they were 2.6 million lira, a number that increased to 5,311,427 lira in 2018. 

Electricity and heating also increased by nearly 16 million from 2017, reaching 40.9 million lira. 

Ten-fold increase in income

The palace’s income also appeared to increase in 2018, reaching 305.8 million lira with nearly a ten-fold spike, a number that was 31.8 million in 2017. 

Tax income for the palace increased from 24 million in 2017 to 41.8 million in 2018. 

Donations to the palace increased from 2017, when it was 95,750, to a total of 188.7 million lira in 2018.