Parliament speaker Kurtulmuş criticizes AKP MP Çelebi over deputy vehicle card controversy

Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş has criticized AKP MP Mehmet Ali Çelebi after the latter’s deputy vehicle card was found in a luxury car. Kurtulmuş said he did not give the card to “even my children” after Çelebi said he gave his card to “a friend.” The vehicles with this card are given priority in traffic and their traffic fines are paid by the Parliament.

Tuesday September 26 2023 02:28 pm

AKP MP Mehmet Ali Çelebi's deputy vehicle card being found in a luxury car which he claims he does not own drew ire

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Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş on Sept. 25 criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Mehmet Ali Çelebi after the latter’s deputy vehicle card was found in a Bentley car worth 35 million liras.

Answering the questions of the journalists at the Parliament, Kurtulmuş said “When I was a Member of Parliament, I didn't even give (those) cards to my own children. In this sense, everyone should be careful to preserve the love of Parliament.”

“Everyone (deputies) should pay careful attention to this issue. But I think that things that would discredit the MP should be avoided on all occasions,” he added.

Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş (ANKA)

After the card found in a luxury car drew ire, Çelebi argued that he did not own it and he gave his card to “a friend.”

Çelebi said on Sept. 22 that he gave the card to his friend to use the car when he goes to Istanbul without a car and to have his friend bring his mother to the hospital “in case of emergency while I am away.”

Merak edenler olmuş.
Milletvekillerinin kendisine tahsisli 3 araç hakkı vardır. Hepsi kendilerine ait olmak zorunda değildir. Vekillerimiz bu tahsisi genel olarak Ankara’da bir araç ve kendi seçildikleri illerde bir araç olarak kullanmaktadır.

Kendi aracım Skoda ve ödemesi…
— Mehmet Ali Çelebi (@celebimehmeta) September 22, 2023

Deputies can have up to three vehicle cards on the grounds that one is used in the capital Ankara and the others are used in their constituencies.

After being elected, they can register three license plates, saying “It is the vehicle of a Member of Parliament.” These vehicles are given the right of way in traffic, and their traffic fines are paid by the Parliament budget.

Çelebi is a former soldier and former MP from the main opposition Republican People’ Party (CHP). In 2008, he was arrested on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" within the scope of the controversial Ergenekon investigation when he was a lieutenant in the Turkish army and stayed in prison for six years.

Last year, he joined the AKP, arguing his former party CHP did not take any stance against the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) which he claims have organic links with the PKK.

Previously, an investigation was launched into AKP Düzce Youth Branch Chair Öner Şen who used the deputy card despite not being an MP on charges of “irregular assumption of public duty,” the daily Sözcü reported on Sept. 26.