İmamoğlu takes a jab at Erdoğan over 'trash, pits' remark: 'This mindset...'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu conducted inspections at a building that was transferred to TÜGVA for 25 years during the AKP era and was designated to be used as a dormitory.

"WE WANT IT RETURNED TO IMM CONTROL"

Regarding the structure, for which TÜGVA claimed they could not carry out restoration work due to pandemic conditions, IMM Real Estate Branch Manager Nail Güler stated the following:

"This place became the property of the IMM in 2018 due to expropriation. Following the expropriation, the IMM Assembly decided to allocate this place to the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA). This decision was finalized with a resolution by the municipal council on 12.12.2018, allocating it to TÜGVA.

An assessment was carried out by the Real Estate Department's assessment unit, and it was found to be in an 'empty and unusable' state. Our department sent a notice to the relevant foundation, stating that an action inconsistent with the allocation had been taken and that the allocation would be canceled. The foundation informed us that they would begin restoration, citing pandemic conditions. When local shopkeepers and citizens reported that it continued to be used in a disturbing manner, we both sent a formal warning to the foundation and submitted a request to the Assembly in April 2022 for the cancellation of this allocation. Since that day, this request has not been finalized in the Assembly; we are waiting.

We want the cancellation of the allocation made to the foundation by the IMM Assembly in 2018 and for this place to be returned to the control of the IMM."

"TRASH, PITS—THIS IS IT..."

Inspecting the building, which has turned into a ruin, İmamoğlu said, "You are not the rightful owner, yet you are trying to take away the rights of the actual owner. It is a place that has been burned and destroyed. I mean, why this stubbornness? And then, when it comes to talk, they say 'trash, pits.' Trash, pits—this is it. This mindset, that is."

These words by İmamoğlu brought to mind the remarks made by President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Necip Fazıl Awards program.

Erdoğan had said:

"When we arrived, Istanbul was trash, pits, and mud. That is how we received it. But look at the kind of Istanbul we handed over to them; it is clear. What have they done now? They have turned it back into the same state, they are turning it back. That is why March 31 is very important. March 31 is very important to return our Istanbul, our Turkey, to its true essence."