Files on former Üsküdar Mayor Türkmen back on the agenda

Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş’s detention continues to cause ripples, and this development has once again turned eyes toward the previous term. The series of judicial moves against mayors from opposition parties has brought allegations of corruption and irregularities during the term of former AKP Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen back into the public eye.

As arrest and detention decisions against opposition mayors gain momentum, the processes in the cases where former Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen was tried are drawing attention. Türkmen, who was tried on charges of misconduct in office, had been acquitted in that case. Furthermore, in the file prepared against Türkmen on the grounds that he "turned a blind eye to illegal construction," the fact that the then-Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya did not grant permission for an investigation led to criticisms of a double standard in judicial processes.

"SIGNATURE QUEUE" AT THE ZONING DIRECTORATE AFTER LOSING THE ELECTION

The activity that took place at the municipality immediately after Hilmi Türkmen lost the local elections remains fresh in memory. Just before the handover process took place, it was captured on camera and shared with the public by Birgün Newspaper that a large number of people had formed long queues in front of the Üsküdar Municipality Zoning Directorate to have documents signed. This situation raised serious questions about the transparency of the transactions made on the way out.

Türkmen’s incidents were not limited to administrative procedures. During the March 19 process, Türkmen, who created disinformation on social media to associate a young woman with terrorism and openly targeted her, merely deleted the relevant post after the truth came out. The former mayor, who continues his life in its normal course, has not apologized to the victimized woman he targeted to this day.

On the other hand, the debt burden left by the former administration to Üsküdar and the transfer transactions made in exchange for debts reveal the severity of the economic picture of the period. Some critical transactions that took place during the Hilmi Türkmen era are as follows:

2013: In exchange for the municipality's tax debt of 7 million 370 thousand TL, four mosque lands in Üsküdar were transferred to the treasury.

2019 (SSI Debt): In exchange for the Üsküdar Municipality's SSI debt of 37 million 200 thousand TL, a valuable land belonging to the municipality was transferred to the institution.

2019 (Tax Debt): To close a tax debt of 29.7 million TL, another mosque land was transferred to the treasury via e-Devlet.

Borrowing Authorizations: The municipal administration received authorization from the council to use credit in October 2009, and an additional borrowing authorization of exactly 75 million TL in 2020.

"SEIZURE" CLAIM TURNED OUT TO BE FROM HIS OWN TERM 

In recent months, Hilmi Türkmen's move to criticize the Sinem Dedetaş administration by stating that "a seizure order has been placed on the municipality" also backfired. It was proven with official documents that the seizure process in question and the unpaid debts belonged directly to Türkmen’s own term as mayor.

News Source: 12punto