‘Foreigners view us with envy,’ says Erdoğan
* Photo: Murat Kula / AA - İstanbul
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President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday (April 18) attended the opening ceremony of the Hasankeyf-2 Bridge, which has been built in southeastern Turkey, with a live link from the Huber Mansion in İstanbul.
As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), wishing that Hasankeyf-2 Bridge will be propitious for Turkey, Erdoğan said that the bridge is "an important gain for especially the people of the region."
"We have managed record investments in the last 19 years, especially in the field of transportation," said President and AKP Chair Erdoğan, stressing that "all developments Turkey has reached in this period have much exceeded those during the country's history."
He noted that they, as the ruling AKP, have "acquired rail system lines, subways, tram lines in important parts of the cities, increasing the number of airports to 56 with 30 additions, making the airline a public one."
"So far, we have used 932 billion Turkish Liras (over 115.4 billion USD) of resources at the point of transport investment," said Erdoğan.
"Foreigners now view our roads, bridges, and airports with envy when they come to Turkey," he said, adding: "For healthcare, thousands come to Turkey, our citizens no longer need to go abroad to seek proper treatment."
Those who went to Germany have not returned
On the other side, amid investigations and debates regarding an incident where 43 of the 45 people sent to Germany by the AKP's Yeşilyurt Municipality have not come back to Turkey, a similar incident in Akçakiraz Municipality in Elazığ has also been reported in the press.
In 2019, 20 people went to Germany' Bremen via the Akçakiraz Municipality, but only three have returned to Turkey.
Speaking to journalist İsmail Saymaz about the issue, AKP's Akçakiraz Mayor Sabahattin Kaya has confirmed the incident and said that a lorry was bought for the municipality for 100 thousand liras in return.
The Ministry of Interior has released a written statement about the allegations of irregularities in issuing service (gray) passports for the Malatya Yeşilyurt Municipality and announced that the related vice governor, the provincial director of civil registration and citizenship affairs and two public officers have been suspended from duty as part of the investigation.
In his Parliamentary question about allegations of "human smuggling", main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Bursa MP Orhan Sarıbal has asked Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu a series of questions about the issue, underlining the rumors that there are nearly 1,000 people smuggled abroad with similar methods. (AS/SD)