Tender awarded to AKP politician's company to photograph earthquake damage in Elazığ

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A company owned by Cemalettin Kömürcü, the Ankara provincial vice-president for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), was awarded a 415,000 TL tender to shoot photographic and video footage of damage caused by an earthquake that struck the Eastern Anatolian city of Elazığ in January of this year, according to a report in the Birgün daily. 

The Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning held a tender on March 18 for a photograph and video shoot of the buildings in Elazığ and the neighboring province of Malatya that were damaged or destroyed in the quake. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7 and claimed 41 lives. Though it was felt throughout the region, neighborhoods in the urban center of Elazığ were hit the hardest. 

According to information provided by Turkey's Public Procurement Authority, only two companies were invited to partake in the tender, while the offer granted to Kömürcü's company Netvizyon Mediapark was the only one authorized. 

In December of 2019, it was reported that a 35,000 square meter parcel of public land near Ankara's Bilkent University was allocated to a foundation on which Kömürcü serves as the board chairman.