Murat Kurum calls current IMM administration 'incompetent'

AKP's Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayoral Candidate Murat Kurum held visits in Avcılar. Meeting with NGO representatives, Kurum delivered a speech at the Aksev Foundation Conference Hall.

Kurum was accompanied by AKP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Osman Nuri Kabaktepe. After his speech, Kurum walked along Marmara Street with his entourage and visited local shopkeepers.

While walking on the street, a woman who stated that she lives in the Ambarlı neighborhood approached Kurum and expressed that she was experiencing problems with the metrobus and other public transportation, saying, "The metrobus breaks down every day, we cannot get to work."

"WHY DOES AVCILAR NOT HAVE A METRO?"

In his response, Kurum said:

Hopefully, we will take back the old Istanbul together with you. We will not see Istanbul as a stepping stone; we will not be interested in anything other than Istanbul. When we arrive, we will end this ordeal, this transportation ordeal. Unfortunately, there is an administration that is incapable of buying a metrobus and putting it on the line. We will also buy our metrobuses. Why doesn't Avcılar have a metro? We will also bring the metro to Avcılar.

Hopefully, there will be no citizens or districts left in Istanbul's 39 districts without a metro. 17 kilometers of metro have been built in 5 years. Can 17 kilometers be built in 5 years?

Upon the woman saying, "We take photos of the places where we are stuck every day and send them to the IMM, but there is no solution," Kurum replied by saying, "Be patient."

ERDOĞAN HAD NOT GIVEN APPROVAL

The Presidency had not given investment approval for the IMM's new metrobus purchase. For this reason, the IMM purchased 252 metrobuses with its own resources.

In a statement he made on January 18, 2023, regarding the construction of the Sefaköy-Beylikdüzü-TÜYAP metro line and the purchase of 300 metrobuses, IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu said, "We were ready for the construction of the Sefaköy-Beylikdüzü-TÜYAP metro and the purchase of 300 metrobuses. However, neither investment was included in the 2023 Presidential Investment Program. This 'discretion' also made the financing we found unusable. We submit this 'discretion' to the conscience of the public."

“WHAT IS THIS JEALOUSY?”

Speaking at the ceremony held on December 4, 2023, regarding the addition of 252 vehicles purchased with internal resources to the metrobus line, which last received new buses in 2015, İmamoğlu criticized AKP President Erdoğan with the words, "The Presidency did not sign off on this, preventing a process for which the credit was already ready. Why is this not signed? Not a single explanation was given. What shall we call this, what is this ambition, what is this jealousy?"