Mansur Yavaş becomes the first candidate to sign the 'Local Government Transparency Commitment'!

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) Mayor Mansur Yavaş has signed the 'Local Government Transparency Commitment' with the Transparency International Turkey. Yavaş had previously been deemed worthy of the “2020 Transparency Award” by Transparency International.

"WE WILL REGULARLY SHARE OUR ASSET DECLARATIONS"

Yavaş said, "We were the first to sign it last year as well, and we subsequently complied with all the articles in the declaration we signed. We broadcast all our tenders live as open tenders. Furthermore, we regularly publish our financial status reports on our website. We also publish the Court of Accounts reports so that the people of Ankara can see where the money spent is going, and we will keep them updated to ensure there is constant information about our financial situation. I declared my assets last time. None of the other candidates have declared theirs yet, but from now on, we will regularly share any increase or decrease in our assets with the people of Ankara every year from April 1st to April 1st. It is time for municipalities to stop being associated with a bad reputation," he said.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Yavaş said the following:

"IT PUTS THE MUNICIPALITY AS AN INSTITUTION IN A DIFFICULT POSITION"

Stating that he is uncomfortable with municipalities being associated with a bad reputation, Yavaş said, "The failure to disclose these in any municipality or leaving them under suspicion puts the municipality as an institution in a difficult position. I hope other mayors will also implement this, disclose their information, and conduct open tenders. In Ankara, there are nearly 450 thousand university students. Many of them come from outside the city. Every time I meet with them, I tell them: 'When you finish school and return to your own provinces, tell the mayors and public administrators there: why don't you conduct open tenders, why don't you publish them, why aren't you accountable? You must question these things.' Let this become a path and a procedure in Turkey, and let it be the norm. It is something that should already be the case. For this reason, we want to lead the way, and we also feel at ease when things are done this way," he expressed.

"THANK YOU TO OUR MAYOR MANSUR FOR AGREEING TO BE THE FIRST SIGNATORY AGAIN"

Transparency International Turkey Board Chairman Selçuk Argun also said the following:

"We have a transparency commitment that we send to all candidates competing in local elections before the elections. This commitment generally includes a number of issues regarding how the candidates will manage their municipalities after they are elected. At the forefront of these are some commitments in line with international transparency standards, such as the publication of budgets, tenders, and municipal council meetings, and updating these issues on websites and internet portals. We requested this from our mayoral candidates. Thank you to our Mayor Mansur for agreeing to be the first signatory again."

News Source: 12punto