Here is the CHP municipality facing foreclosure: Erdoğan had said regarding SGK debts, 'It will be collected, we will not make concessions'

Following the remarks by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to CHP leader Özgür Özel, "If you want to be of benefit to retirees, give the instruction for your municipalities to pay their accumulated debts to the Social Security Institution. Our Ministry of Treasury and Finance will begin collecting the municipalities' debts at the source," the controversy over SGK debt between the government and the opposition is growing.

Following Erdoğan's statement, foreclosure proceedings against municipalities have begun.

Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer stated that a lien had been placed on their accounts and reacted to the situation.

"IT WILL AFFECT THE MUNICIPALITIES"

Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer pointed to Erdoğan's statement at the group meeting and said the following:

"I do not believe that the President made this statement without considering whether the municipalities are in need, or whether their services will be disrupted. As a former mayor, he surely knows these things. Having this debt deducted from the Treasury shares that come to them every month, suddenly and unprepared, will naturally affect the municipalities. This is a situation known by everyone."

"WILL THE SGK BE REVITALIZED?"

Reminding of the CHP's success in the March 31 Local Elections, Seçer stated that Erdoğan and the AKP suffered a major defeat and used the following expressions: “Where is the logic in this? Will the SGK, which has receivables from thousands of private companies, find relief by collecting premiums only from municipalities? Will the SGK be revitalized? 411 municipalities are CHP municipalities. If you include the municipalities of other opposition parties, the municipalities managing a significant population are those governed by opposition parties. I evaluate this as an application made to put them in a difficult position."

"WHO INCURRED THE DEBT?"

Asking "So who incurred this debt?", Seçer continued as follows:

"In 2019, I became the Mayor of Mersin Metropolitan Municipality as a CHP Mayor. Similarly, metropolitan cities like Antalya, Adana, Ankara, and Istanbul also became CHP-led. But before that, it was either MHP or AK Party. Naturally, there was a debt burden in the municipalities taken over in 2019. One should not just look at the SGK within the debt items. When we include SGK debts, tax debts, bank debts, and debts to companies and tradesmen for goods and services, each municipality took on a serious debt burden in 2019.

We demonstrated a management style without a parliamentary majority. Not having a parliamentary majority means not being able to obtain borrowing authority. Because we did not have a parliamentary majority, we could not borrow from banks at that time. Naturally, we could not borrow from banks to close the debts coming from the past and to make payments on time so that newly initiated services would not be disrupted, but there were some delays in SGK and tax debts. The SGK or the tax office does not keep these waiting for charity anyway. They charge a late interest. As a municipality, you pay this too. If there is a debt, and if we as municipalities are carrying a debt burden above what it should actually be, this is a situation stemming from necessity. Having this deducted in such a way is not the right thing to do.

"THE GOAL IS TO BEAT THE VINE-GROWER"

There are also municipalities won in the 2024 elections. These are places that have not been managed by a CHP mayor for 30 years, 25 years... Among them were also municipalities managed by AK Party mayors since 2002, when the AK Party came to power. The debts accumulated during that process are the debts currently appearing in the municipalities. It is impossible to accept such an application. The issue here is not to eat the grapes. It is to beat the vine-grower, rather than collecting the SGK's debts. It is nothing more than putting CHP mayors in a difficult position, making them unable to provide services, and discrediting them in the eyes of the public."

"IT WILL CAUSE TROUBLE BUT IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD"

Stating "If the issue is the collection of accumulated debts, they could have done this with some reasonable decisions," Vahap Seçer spoke as follows:

"There could have been a restructuring. It is something done from time to time. Frankly, we were expecting a restructuring to be done. Some discounts could have been made on debt interest, it could have been divided into installments. In this way, our services would not have been disrupted. We could have also been on the path to paying our debts to some extent, but with this decision, our hands and feet have been tied. Of course, we will experience trouble.

This may be a trouble for many municipalities. Let me speak for my own municipality; these are decisions that will cause us trouble, but it is not the end of the world. Our services will continue. We will definitely be forced, but as we have done until today, we will overcome these as well."

CHP'S BAŞARIR ALSO REACTED TO THE FORECLOSURE DECISION

Following the recent discussions regarding the debts of some municipalities to the SGK, foreclosure proceedings were first initiated in Mersin Metropolitan Municipality.

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Ali Mahir Başarır reacted to the initiation of foreclosure proceedings with these words:

“The Ministry of Labor and Social Security has started foreclosures on municipalities regarding tax and insurance premiums. It started with Mersin Municipality. Have a little shame. Two of your deputies have had a turnover of billions of liras and have not paid taxes; there is not a single investigation. The vast majority of these municipalities' debts belong to your periods. 5 companies plus eight sub-companies affiliated with those companies have not paid a single lira in tax. There is a tax receivable of this country totaling 800 billion, and you are foreclosing on municipalities. Do not incur the curse of this society, of this country. Let the municipalities work, we will pay those too, but we know that you are doing these things to prevent the municipalities from working, to close neighborhood kitchens, to close public bread kiosks. One day, this public will hold you accountable for this.”