Erdoğan’s luxury yacht spotted transiting Bosporus for the first time since refitting

A Turkish presidential yacht, formerly known as the Turkish Navy’s auxiliary ship Yakamoz Y68, has been seen for the first time transiting the Bosporus since a refitting, the Cumhuriyet daily reported on Thursday, citing a Turkish geopolitical analyst.

Yörük Işık, an independent geopolitical analyst based in İstanbul, where he runs the Bosphorus Observer blog, tweeted last week that a yacht “with no visible name but with the official seal of the president” transited the Bosporus, sharing photos showing a large group of people on it.

Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wasn’t seen in any of the photos he posted, Işık claimed on Aug. 22 that Erdoğan was “showing the sights of Bosphorus” to King of Malaysia Sultan Abdullah of Pahang.

After he was hosted on a yacht during an overseas visit, former Turkish President Süleyman Demirel decided to have a yacht built with the budget allocated from the presidency’s discretionary fund in 1997, Cumhuriyet said, adding that succeeding President Ahmet Necdet Sezer refused to take the yacht, thinking it was a “luxury expenditure,” including it in the inventory of the Naval Forces Command.

In 2018, when Erdoğan was re-elected president, the yacht was taken from the naval forces and transferred to the presidency. It is not known how much money was spent on the yacht, which was restored in a private shipyard, according to Cumhuriyet.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Utku Çakırözer asked in a parliamentary question in 2018 directed to Vice President Fuat Oktay whether the TL 56.7 million ($3.1 million) in funds allocated to “ships,” as was stated in the presidency’s 2019 budget, was for this yacht.

In his reply Oktay said the “Yakamoz yacht, which was ordered for the presidency but used by the Naval Forces Command, was taken over by the presidency on March 16, 2018.”