Striking remarks from Mansur Yavaş about Meral Akşener on live broadcast: "Her offer was not ethical"

Answering questions from Habertürk TV Ankara Representative Fevzi Çakır and journalist Faruk Aksoy, CHP's Ankara Metropolitan Mayor and candidate Mansur Yavaş responded to questions regarding the current agenda.

Stating that he would have won if he had been nominated in the presidential election, Yavaş said, "Polls showed this. I will speak about it only once after the election."

Key highlights from Yavaş's statements are as follows:

"ONE MUST LEAVE BEFORE THINGS GO BAD"

There is a saying, 'one must leave at the peak.' One must leave before things go bad. In Beypazarı, I had also said after increasing my votes in my second term, 'I will not be a candidate again.' I say that two terms are sufficient. This exists in developed countries and is applied. I had given good examples in my second term and was successful in Beypazarı as a model of local development.

I took over 1,000 mayors around there. We showed it to governors and district governors. They also wanted to implement it in their own districts. It even became a subject of research abroad. It was done entirely with local resources. We did it by involving the local people. Therefore, I would be happy if there were a 'Mansur Yavaş example' in local governments here as well. I am doing what needs to be done in Ankara.

Once elected, you take off the badge. For 5 years, nothing happens to the other side. I do not engage in partisanship. When I go to a neighborhood, village, or district, I do not look at 'how many votes came from here.' My principle has been this: if there is no water in a place, to bring water there. If sewage is flowing in a village and children are playing next to it, and there is a possibility of an epidemic, it does not matter at all who voted for whom there.

"THE CITY COUNCIL WAS ESTABLISHED IN ANKARA FOR THE FIRST TIME"

This understanding was accepted by the citizens. They saw that I did not approach them for political reasons. The city council was established in Ankara for the first time. A culture of participation developed. It also received awards from outside Turkey. It has 1,800 components. There are people from every opinion who have ideas about Ankara.

Not just those who support us. There are academics and non-governmental organizations. We started by broadcasting the assembly meeting live on the first day. It has always been broadcast live until the end. Later, I gave the instruction for tenders to be broadcast live. Then we removed the sirens. I banned them from hanging my photo.

"I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT WE WILL WIN"

For 5 years in Ankara, they did not see my photo anywhere. The public saw and accepted it with just one minibus, one driver, and a single bodyguard. This was what it should have been.

Let us complete the second term or win it. I have no doubt that we will win. Where will life lead me in politics tomorrow? It is understood that there will be some developments after the election. Honestly, I did not make this statement by calculating for myself for the future.

"I MADE IT A SUBJECT OF A LAWSUIT WITHOUT MAKING IT A SUBJECT OF POLEMIC"

Those who say this have their own responsibilities. We want to make Ankara a city that competes with world capitals, as entrusted to us by Mustafa Kemal. If all bank headquarters go to Istanbul, if the Central Bank goes to Istanbul, Ankara will become a village.

I never heard any objection to this from municipalities belonging to the ruling party. According to the Central Bank Law, it says 'The Central Bank meets in Ankara.' I made this a subject of a lawsuit without making it a subject of polemic. I said, 'It cannot go to Istanbul.' The lawsuit was rejected.

The reason for the rejection was stated as 'Ankara Metropolitan Municipality has no legal interest in this matter.' Direct income comes to the Ankara Municipality in terms of legal interest. I never shared this with the citizens. I conduct my opposition by resorting to legal means. Why is Ankara being emptied? They need to explain this themselves. Otherwise, Ankara would not become a village out of nowhere.

"WE PUBLISH OUR EXPENDITURES DOWN TO THE LAST PENNY"

Everything we have done in 5 years is on mansuryavasneyapti.com. At the same time, we publish all our expenditures down to the last penny. We are transparent item by item on this matter. What are the debts from the old period? How much has been paid? I account for it down to the last penny. I say, 'All of you give this account.' With the work we have done, we have laid as much asphalt as the old period, not 17 intersections, and built 100 green spaces.

They can see all the work we have done there. There are many activities that have been neglected until now. Especially infrastructure. They say, 'that is not the real figure.' There is no one in Turkey who publishes the financial status table. I was the first to publish it. They say, 'There was a debt of 3.4-4 dollars for that day, now there is 25 billion.'

If you convert it to dollars, you can see whether the debts have decreased or not. Our debt decreased by 1.9 dollars. We published it with details on 20-25 pages. Our revenues decreased. It was 2 billion 20 million dollars. Since most of our revenues are İller Bank shares and tax shares, there has been a tremendous economic hardship since 2019. Also, our figures for goods and services are low.

"WE DID NOT ALLOCATE MONEY TO IMAGINARY PROJECTS"

You want to provide the highest quality service at the lowest cost. ASKİ's revenues have fallen. They sold water for 1.6 dollars. Mustafa Tuna lowered it to 1 dollar, currently our water price is 0.70 cents. The figures are clear. While these are falling, what happened to the costs? What happened to the hikes in labor, diesel, and electricity? ASKİ's revenues do not cover its expenses. The reason for this is that the municipal council determines the price of water. We are 40 people out of 148.

Do we have the authority to raise water prices alone? Since the last PPI and CPI increase was decided, no hikes have been made since that date. We give it to low-income people for 1 lira per ton. If they use more, the Department of Social Services pays ASKİ. According to their claim, it is said to be sold expensively.

We did not allocate money to any imaginary projects. According to the Fitch Report, the municipality with the highest credibility is the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality. It cannot be higher than the country's score. ASKİ has 1,170 million liras that we need to pay. About 200 million liras come as İller Bank share. Who will pay for this? In the end, it will come out of the citizens again. When you reduce it by 50 percent, you will close ASKİ. Personnel expenses, electricity expenses, treatment plant expenses. When you reduce it to 50 percent, ASKİ automatically goes bankrupt.

"THERE WILL BE NO OPEN SEWAGE FLOWING"

We are 16th among 30 metropolitan cities. I say, lower the natural gas and electricity. It is also forbidden to sell below cost in the Court of Accounts audit reports. They previously made a 50 percent discount decision. That was also canceled by the court. There are also Constitutional Court decisions. Now they say, 'Can you charge for God's water?' I kept my promise. I started my duty on April 8. I submitted a motion to the Municipal Council to lower the water in the villages. But a law was passed. 'You cannot provide this below cost.' This decision could not be implemented. What is desired here is this; it does not let you sell below cost.

There is criticism from the Court of Accounts. In the period before us, they gave a 5 percent discount to the districts. The Court of Accounts found public loss. The general decisions are these. Your cost is 1,170 million liras. The municipality's situation would be good if it gave it with 5 percent profit. We are taking water to Polatlı. We spent nearly 500 million between the Gölbaşı-Mamak line. We took water from Çamlıdere to Elmadağ. On one hand, you will renew the infrastructure. It needs to cover energy expenses and personnel expenses. If we had such an intention, we would not have submitted the 5-cent motion.

In the villages, water was flowing in the old period. When these were later included in the Metropolitan Law, ASKİ went and made them subscribers. I also said, 'if they brought the water themselves, it should be lowered.' The law passed in 2020 said it could not be provided below the tariff. There are almost 5 left. We made their tenders. After the pandemic, when the economic crisis emerged, the government granted contractors the right to withdraw.

We will do all of them. There will be no open sewage flowing in Ankara. There is no water in Polatlı. My priority is there. Before the election, I said, 'Water is being carried by tanker in Akyurt's Harman village, can this happen in this century?' Currently, the number of villages without water has decreased very much. We are conducting drilling tenders. You can only calculate the value of 3.5 billion liras of that day in today's value over the dollar. There is no inflation difference in these yet.

"BILLBOARDS WERE PRIVATIZED BEFORE US, I FILED A LAWSUIT"

We have rental incomes. Renting for 10 years is under the authority of the council. The council does not give us this authority. While billboards were the municipality's golden goose, they were privatized at that time. The management is the same, the municipal bureaucrats. I intervened as soon as I arrived, saying I would take the billboards. We won most of the lawsuits. They are getting a stay of execution decision. This decision is given for closed real estates.

There are 500-600 that we can take. Think about the income we would get if we took all of them. Revenue is generated mostly from real estate, and you also save money. In the Gökçek period, the company received the tender it bought for 80 liras for 20 liras with an open tender in our period.

Street names, park names, court decisions, precedent increase decisions coming from districts are truly passed unanimously. When I arrived, our ASKİ General Manager, a treatment plant was built during the Karayalçın period. In 2010, the Ministry of Environment said, 'urgently increase the capacity.' Nothing was done. The ASKİ General Manager says 750 goes to the Ankara stream without being treated. It reaches Sakarya from there. From there, it reaches the Ömerli Dam.

"MY DRINKING WATER PROJECT WAS REJECTED IN THE TBMM"

I made the project and went to the President. It was included in the investment program. I found a loan of 275 million dollars. This project, which the President approved and needed to be done urgently, was rejected in the assembly. I vetoed it, it has been waiting in the assembly for 8 months. They are constantly giving postponements. Interest rates are rising in 8 months, there are hikes in foreign currency. Half of this loan was going to be in foreign currency and half in TL. ASKİ's budget was completed at -5 billion.

We were told, 'You will take a loan of 5 billion liras.' Public banks are not giving it anyway. Finally, we found a loan, the bank said, 'Take a decision from the assembly once more.' They did not take a decision from the assembly for 2 billion.

They rejected the loan that the President approved. We asked for a loan as soon as we were elected for Polatlı's water, it was rejected. I got that loan with a court decision. It would have had water 7 months ago. We will buy buses, no buses have been bought since 2013. I found a cheap loan to buy 400 buses, it was rejected by the commission.

"TAP WATER IN ANKARA IS DRINKABLE"

Currently, our water is drinkable. Ankara's water will be bad, the Ministry of Health will inspect this, is it possible for it to give a positive report? Water samples are taken from 1273 places across Ankara. It is published daily on the ASKİ website. If there is a problem in one of these points, it is reported immediately and that problem is corrected. In 2023, 243,578 parameters were analyzed in 11,300 samples, including water, wastewater, and soil, so there is no problem at all.

We did not provide water from Kesikköprü after we became mayor. Excavation was dumped into Çamlıbel. Now a new pipe is being installed. Currently, hundreds of trucks are carrying excavation there. Therefore, we only gave the water coming from Kesikköprü for reinforcement purposes. Most of the water currently comes from Çamlıdere and Kurtboğazı. There is nothing to hesitate about in the water. I even put a plastic bottle by my bedside. I drink from both.

We replaced nearly 300 kilometers of asbestos pipes in Ankara. ASKİ's investments have increased twofold compared to the old period but were done at half the price. The pipes need to be constantly renewed. A World Bank loan came for Keçiören. There is a population of 1 million right now. Nothing has been touched in any way in the past period. They look at it as if what you do underground is not seen.

"THERE ARE DISEASES CAUSED BY NOT EATING HEALTHY"

I am supporting 50 thousand people in Keçiören, they support 5 thousand people. Now I am separating my rival in Ankara from Mr. Kurum. If Kurum is elected, he will do it. Mr. Turgut is the mayor right now. Did you give 1 lira to the retiree in 6 months? We regularly provide meat aid to 200 thousand families. We provide natural gas to 200 thousand families. We do not let anyone freeze. My project department prepared these intersections and brought them. For some, you need to get permission from the highways. You find the finance, you do it.

I don't understand either, I just get complaints, I give instructions. Municipalism is an institution that deals with all human needs from birth to death. Let's measure, let's see who has done how much asphalt? We have done at least as much asphalt as them. Diesel has been hiked by 500 percent. Nearly 80 percent of our buses were natural gas. Suddenly, the figure for those using more than 300 thousand cubic meters went up to 300 thousand.

I don't do this for profit, I said don't put us in the same things as companies. Now it has gone down a bit and we can manage. We deposit 1 kilo of meat money per month to 200 thousand families. In the emails we receive, many of them have developmental disorders. There are diseases caused by not eating healthy. The houses are damp, they cannot warm up. I started with natural gas first.

The first email that came said, "My president, I had been able to buy 200 liras of natural gas once in my life, for the first time this year my children warmed up in their home." We are not just so they can warm up, eat. My main goal is that those who receive support will now be the 3rd generation. You have to educate the children. My biggest project is the Başkent card. Packages used to be distributed. It was always bought from the same company. Pasta was brought from abroad. We load money onto the Başkent Card. It is distributed to tradesmen in Ankara. We ensure the tradesman stays afloat. We see what they buy. They cannot buy alcohol, they cannot buy cigarettes. People buy chocolate for their children. They buy bananas from the greengrocer, they buy whatever they want. We made it so that the left hand does not see what the right hand gives.

"I AM STILL THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATION ALLIANCE"

We do not enter into discussions as much as possible. I see myself as the president of the Nation Alliance until the evening of March 31. The statement that we came together to get a mayor elected for CHP is not correct. If you had won Balıkesir, Denizli, CHP would have also won it for you. There was a common opposition attitude in the middle.

"I TRUST WHAT I HAVE DONE FOR 5 YEARS"

Not a single rent-seeking job has been given from the metropolitan municipality for 5 years. I thank the AK Party, IYI Party, and CHP group. I believe I have changed the understanding of municipalism. In street interviews, they say 'I will vote for Mansur.' The people of Ankara saw a new understanding of municipalism and it caught on. The people of Ankara will not change this attitude. There is a mayor who brings peace and abundance to the city.

"AKŞENER'S OFFER WAS NOT ETHICAL"

I am not offended or anything. I am being blamed because I did not become a candidate. I answered this when the press asked at the market in Ulus. If you really want me to be a candidate, it doesn't happen by saying come on, be a candidate, I have a registration in another party. Mr. Davutoğlu also said, 'If you are thinking of Mr. Yavaş becoming a candidate, I will bring it to the table.' He should have called me 1 day before and asked if I would consider such a thing, if he was going to make an offer.

In this process, I said this everywhere regarding my candidacy, 'If the Table of 6 nominates me, I will be a candidate.' Everyone was calling me a coward, etc. Ümit Özdağ also wanted me to be a candidate. Should I have been a candidate immediately? Whoever came out in the poll would be looked at. If they said 'be a candidate,' I would not have been a candidate.

I already said if there was unanimity, I would have been. I think I will win. I don't want to talk more. We are in a local election environment. Hopefully, in the meeting we will hold in May, I will talk about the issues that the public does not know once, and I will not talk again. We receive votes from the taxes paid by those living in Ankara.

"WORKED TOGETHER WITH IYI PARTY"

IYI Party voters said, 'Let's enter with Mansur Yavaş' in 23 districts. When this view was not accepted, the vast majority already resigned. The deputy, the provincial head resigned. Almost all of the district heads resigned. We are working together right now. There is no situation to be called an operation, we did not say 'resign.' Everyone knows each other in Ankara, they know. They are satisfied with me, frankly. There is no position for them to complain about me. We worked together. If there is success, it was together.

"THERE IS A CHP LOGO"

There is a CHP logo on all posters. We are the mayoral candidate of CHP. After being elected, we are everyone's mayor. To date, no complaint has come from any headman or district saying 'you are separating us.' We did not separate any of them in rural development supports. I was elected to the municipal council, 'Friends, the people of Ankara elected me, and the districts elected you. I respect you, and you will respect me.

Whatever district mayor brings me a project, I will do it as Ankara Metropolitan Municipality. None of them came. Except for two or three of the mayors, no one saw my room.

They submitted a motion to the commission by ignoring me. They brought it to the point of 'We don't recognize you, we have the majority here, we are managing.' This is my second and final term. I am winning this election. I said if you hold my hand, you will win.

"THEY LOVE THEIR PARTIES MORE THAN THEIR DISTRICTS"

The Ayaş Mayor passed away. We went to his funeral, we met a headman there. He was a friend I knew from my youth. He said to the mayor, 'Mr. Mayor, there is a problem in Ayaş, let's go to Mansur Brother, we will meet.' He said, 'it is forbidden for us to go.' They love their parties more than their districts. Everything is for the party, their logic is this. I need a mayor who holds my hand so that I can get the majority in the municipal council.

"I CLEARLY STATED MY OPPOSITION TO PKK AND HÜDAPAR"

In the last election, they were saying 'PKK members will read meters, DHKP members will bring bills.' Now they have messed up. This word stuck to their own foreheads. If such a thing happened by accident, they would probably put it on a pedestal. They are slandering this politically for the continuation of their own order.

Now they cannot do it, the DEM Party nominated a candidate for Ankara. I traveled city by city in the May 14 elections, I clearly stated my opposition to PKK and HÜDA PAR. Now there is HÜDA PAR in the People's Alliance that does not defend the unity of the country very much, and has a problem with its flag and national anthem.

HÜDA PAR did not nominate a candidate in Ankara. Now should I say, 'If I lose, will Hezbollah members read meters in Ankara?' It is my constitutional right to make everyone who comes to the municipality after the election benefit equally.

ANKA PARK IS OPENING

In ANKA PARK, they had published images of the dinosaurs that were worn out with a television image before the 2019 elections. Their decay started on that date. Then, after I became mayor, the company asked me for directional signs within the city, I helped. They wanted to bring visitors, we helped with all of them. Now, no matter how wrong the project is, I know that my money is also there. I will not agree to the decay of this place. Later it went bankrupt. The investment was wrong.

Before it went bankrupt, there was a date for them to pay a certain amount of money. When the time was up, we said 'give it to us.' A lawsuit was filed against us. We also filed an eviction lawsuit. The court gave a 50 thousand lira counter-precaution decision. You rent out 25 billion worth of goods to someone, the court stopped our eviction with only 50 thousand lira collateral. Time passed, thefts started to happen. They couldn't even pay the security guards' money. We couldn't get inside either.

The company wanted the security for that place itself. Upon hearing that there was theft, our teams started to patrol outside. Theft was committed 10-20 times, they were caught. They were stealing cables. We said, 'Mr. Judge, this place is decaying, lift the precaution.' I went to the President. I gave a letter and an information note at the airport. After that, I went to Mr. Murat Kurum. I said to Kurum, 'This place is decaying.' Let's save this as soon as possible. I don't even know the other side. They rented it to the company of the men who brought the goods from China.

The Minister also remained silent. Finally, when the guards' money was not paid, a bankruptcy decision was made. We also won the lawsuit. The judge decided to continue the precaution. There is no such way in law. If I won the lawsuit, the precaution should be lifted. We said, let us deposit the money you want, let us deposit the collateral you foresee, give a precaution in our favor.

When it went bankrupt, we seized it. We went, there was no cable or anything left there. We renewed all the cables. We made separate subscriptions. The pools have decayed. The pools were renewed. We are opening it to the public for free towards the end of this month. In the meantime, small toys operated by generators are working. Entry and exit will be free.

News Source: 12punto