A brochure drafted by Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi, deputy chairperson of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has shown how the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has filled state posts with its cronies over the 18 years it has been in power, the Cumhuriyet daily reported.
In the brochure İlgezdi lists the names of former AKP executives, deputies and bureaucrats who receive more than one monthly salary for serving in several state posts.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who wrote an article for the brochure, accuses the AKP of turning the state into a family company and appointing pro-AKP individuals to state posts, disregarding their lack of competence and level of education.
“Today, many people are recruited by the state without taking the necessary examinations, and from these posts they are appointed as high-ranking bureaucrats. In other words, people who have close ties to the government are given high-level jobs in the public sector without making any effort,” wrote Kılıçdaroğlu.
Some say the level of favoritism the AKP reached new heights following a failed coup in July 2016 after which the AKP removed more than 150,000 public workers from their posts under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. The party is accused of filling the vacant posts with its cronies.