https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XvX-RXIcrc&feature=emb_logo

ANKARA, TURKEY —The first session of the month for the Ankara Municipal Council meeting was brief after members of Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) and Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP) left the meeting shortly after it started.

Adding to the heated energy from last month’s meeting, members of AKP and MHP, the electoral alliance, had an argument with Mayor Mansur Yavaş of Cumhuriyetçi Hareket Partisi (CHP), the main opposition to the ruling party, over the meeting procedure.

The Arguments Start

The session started as usual, after approving the minutes of the last meeting, the Council reviewed the day’s docket. While Yavaş wanted to move on to the day’s business, Murat Köse, mayor of Mamak Municipality, wanted to introduce a new docket to the agenda. Köse was interrupted by Yavaş, who asked for the docket to be added to the next meeting’s agenda because the meeting had already proceeded, prompting Köse and his party members to start banging on the desks.

“Get on the desk and stomp if you would like,” said Yavaş, giving birth to the now-viral phrase in Turkey, before calling a five-minute break to lower the tensions.

“This isn’t your dad’s property,” yelled Köse while accusing Yavaş of improperly running the meeting before exiting for the break.

Making up the majority, members of AKP and MHP left shortly after the break ended, prompting Yavaş to end the meeting due to lacking enough Council Members.

“You don’t want the people of Ankara to hear my answers to your questions,” said Yavaş. He claimed that he had notified Köse of the presentation he was planning to make and that he would be addressing the accusations against him of wasting money. Köse, his party, and the former Mayor Melih Gökçek of AKP made these claims over the past week. “Have no doubt that I will make sure that the people of Ankara, and of Turkey will be able to hear the answers I have prepared.”

Yavaş then called for a press conference.

The Mayor’s Presentation

In a thread of 28 tweets yesterday, Gökçek accused Yavaş of failing to keep his promises and wasting the city’s money. Alleging that Yavaş had committed crimes against the public, Gökçek’s accusations centered around the finances of the Mayor’s office and the budget control.

“Where did the 10 million lira (1,263,093 in USD) budget go,” asked Köse in a speech made earlier in the week.

Yavaş answered Köse’s questions from that speech by holding a press conference that lasted over two and a half hours. Listing that his goals for his time in office have been transparency and accountability, Yavaş showed the press and the public, where on the city’s website they could see all the expenses made that were listed in addition to minutes from bidding meetings.

“People of Ankara don’t have money to waste,” said Yavaş, while listing all of the spending done in the past two years, and emphasizing the amount of money paid to debts created during Gökçek’s term.

Yavaş also revealed that a report highlighting alleged corruption, which cost 3 quadrillion liras (around 37,905,302,446 in USD) during Gökçek’s term, was given to the public prosecutor’s office.

“He does not purchase food or coal,” Köse said about Yavaş while accusing him of lacking in social aid given to the public.

Köse went on to argue that Yavaş had made false statements, overestimating the amount of aid given to the people of Ankara during his term.

“Our only concern is that no citizen will go to bed hungry, no student will be left un-schooled, and the public will stay happy and healthy,” responded Yavaş, stating his administration will not be seen flaunting over the fact that they completed their duty to the public. “This office has always been with those who are in need.”

Köse and other members of AKP and MHP continued to tweet allegations against Yavaş over the night, accusing him of not answering the questions, which Yavaş did not respond to.

The press conference can be found here and the Municipal Council meeting can be found here.