Former AKP Mayor's 'luxury' office explanation: Citizen gets angry

Mehmet Çerçi, an AKP member who lost the March 31 local government elections in Manisa, held a press conference at the AKP Manisa Provincial Headquarters. At the meeting, which was also attended by AKP Manisa Provincial Chairman Salih Hızlı, former Mayor Çerçi responded to allegations made by Yunusemre Mayor Semih Balaban that he had “built himself a luxury and ostentatious office.”

Responding to Yunusemre Mayor Semih Balaban, Çerçi made the following statements:

"Now, when you talk about pomp and luxury, I am telling you about my life cycle over the last 10 years. Home, municipality, citizen, mosque. Only things older than 100 years are called antiques. Things from 50-60 years ago are not called antiques. They call interior design made with these types of decorative products, all second-hand or third-hand materials, vintage. My wife and I became interested in these kinds of things. Here, it is now called retro. These are all items that my wife and I have collected for years, and the cost is not that high. We bought many of them at flea markets."

"I WANT THESE"

"Now, I want these. I am sure that if you were to buy new office furniture, that is, modern-style furniture, for this office in the municipality, your cost would be even higher than the cost I incurred, perhaps 2-3 times more. My home is like this too. How many people have come to my home here? There is not a single new piece of furniture. We love these. This is our civilization. These are our own works that we bought from our collections that we have accumulated for years."

CITIZEN COULD NOT TAKE IT

At the meeting, Çerçi mentioned both his and his wife's monthly income, saying, "100 thousand TL, and my wife gets 50 thousand. That makes 150, and I was also receiving a salary from the municipality. That is how we bought those items."

Following these remarks, one of the citizens became angry and alleged that irregular billing was being carried out by the municipality's subsidiaries, telling the former mayor, "For an hour, you haven't said a single word for the benefit of the citizens. There are people here trying to get by on 17 thousand TL, and you are saying, 'I received this much, I earn that much'."

Çerçi reacted to the citizen, saying, "You are not a journalist, you have no right to ask questions."

The citizen was removed from the meeting.

Former AKP Mayor's 'luxury' office explanation: Citizen gets angry https://t.co/0wMIHSRLEB pic.twitter.com/UTjeAG9PUA

— 12punto (@12puntocomtr) May 2, 2024

News Source: 12punto