A total of 818 million Turkish lira, around $142 million, has been disbursed from the budget of the Turkish presidency as donations to various foundations, according to a report from the Presidential Strategy and Budget Office, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported on Monday.
This report, which used to be prepared by the prime ministry, is now drafted by the presidency because an executive presidency went into effect in Turkey on June 24, 2018. The report covers the first six months of the new system.
The report includes the amount of money transferred from the presidential budget to the foundations but does not include any information on the names of these foundations and their activities.
Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are accused of transferring huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to pro-government foundations to ensure that they continue to support the AKP in elections.
It was recently revealed by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) members of the İstanbul city council that more than TL 847 million has been transferred to foundations close to Erdoğan and his government in the past several years.