SGK accepts land offer from AKP-run municipality for debt: Difficulties created for CHP municipalities

At a time when, under the instructions of AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accounts of opposition-run municipalities are being blocked, their shares from the Iller Bank are being cut, and their proposals to settle debts with real estate are being rejected on the grounds of SGK debts, it has been revealed that the SGK has carried out a significant land sale.

During the period when Hilmi Türkmen of the AKP was mayor, the Üsküdar Municipality passed a Municipal Council decision on October 9, 2019, to transfer the aforementioned land to the SGK for 37 million 200 thousand TL to cover the debts of its own company to the SGK. Five years later, the SGK organized a tender to sell the Bosphorus-view land.

The SGK, which set an estimated value of 160 million TL for the land, published a sales notice in August of last year. According to information on the SGK's own website, the land was sold for 365 million 30 thousand TL. When calculated in dollars, the SGK sold the land it acquired for 6 million 460 thousand 128 dollars to the union for 10 million 638 thousand 304 dollars.

According to information obtained, the land was purchased by the Koop-İş Union, which is affiliated with TÜRK-İŞ. Eyüp Alemdar, who has been the Chairman of the Koop-İş Union since 2003, is also the Deputy Chairman of TÜRK-İŞ.

The plot, located at block 876, parcel 102, approximately 140 meters northeast of the Vahdettin Pavilion and approximately 400 meters southeast of the Kuleli Military High School, was 3,670 square meters in size. The land, located adjacent to the famous "Çengelköy Mansions," was being used as an open parking lot.

 WARNING TO THE SGK

In the past, many AKP-run municipalities settled their debts to the SGK by transferring land. However, the SGK struggled to find buyers for the properties it acquired. This situation was also identified in a Court of Accounts (Sayıştay) report. In the "Social Security Institution 2023 Court of Accounts Audit Report," published in September 2024, the following assessment was summarized under the heading "Inability to Convert Real Estate Acquired for Sale in Exchange for Premium Debt into Cash":

"A total of 1,636 properties were acquired by the end of 2023. Although some of the properties acquired within this scope were taken for service requirements, most were acquired in exchange for premium debt with the aim of selling them to obtain cash. The total acquisition cost of these properties was determined to be 3,250,046,914.60 TL, and in return, the Institution's receivables were written off.

The number of properties the Institution has acquired for the purpose of sale under the scope of Provisional Article 41 is increasing year by year, but the number of properties sold is not increasing in the same way.

While nearly one-third of the properties acquired for sale under this article since 2012 have been sold, when evaluated in terms of the acquisition costs of the properties, only 8 percent of the acquired properties could be sold. Furthermore, despite the necessary legislative regulations being made regarding the electronic sale of the Institution's properties, some problems that prolong the sales process were encountered as of the end of 2023."

News Source: 12punto