AKP mayor mandated instead of winning candidate 'spent all budget in six months'

Click to read the article in Turkish

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MP Garo Paylan has submitted a parliamentary question to Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu about the expenditures of the Bağlar District Municipality in the mostly Kurdish-populated southeastern city.

The municipality spent all the budget in six months and now has a debt of 90 million lira (~13.1 million USD), Paylan stated.

In the March 2019 local elections, HDP's candidate Zeyyat Ceylan won Diyarbakır's largest district with 71 percent of the votes. However, the Supreme Election Council did not mandate him as the mayor on the ground that he was previously dismissed from public service with a statutory decree.

CLICK - 'Elected mayors discharged by statutory decrees won't be given certificates of election'

Instead, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate, who came second in the polls with a 26 percent vote, was given the certificate of election.

"Bağlar Municipality's trustee added more to the looting at our municipalities where a trustee is appointed," Paylan said, referring to the municipalities where the Ministry of Interior replaced HDP mayors with trustees. More than 50 of the 65 municipalities that the HDP won in the elections are currently run by government-appointed trustees. 

Paylan asked the following questions to the minister:

Since the March 31 elections, which tenders Diyarbakır Bağlar Municipality lodged and what are the prices of the tenders? What are the methods of these tenders?

What are the projects done by Diyarbakır Bağlar Municipality after the March 31 elections? How many of these projects have been completed and how much is the cost of each one?

How many properties (workplaces, parking lots, houses, stores) belonging to Diyarbakır Bağlar Municipality were put up for sale after the March 31 elections? What is the income from the sales realized?

After the March 31 elections, how much credit has Diyarbakır Bağlar Municipality taken from banks or other institutions?

After the 31 March elections, have any transactions been made on the securities and real estates of Diyarbakır Bağlar Municipality, under the name of donation or grant? (TP/VK)