 after recent local elections has said that bugs and hidden cameras were found in the municipal building after taking office, the Halk TV news website reported.){kind=link}
A mayor from Turkey’s main opposition party who succeeded a mayor in the western city of Afyonkarahisar from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after recent local elections has said that bugs and hidden cameras were found in the municipal building after taking office, the Halk TV news website reported.
Burcu Köksal, from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), assumed office in Afyonkarahisar, known as one of Turkey’s nationalist heartlands, after winning a decisive victory in the March 31 local elections by garnering 50.7 percent of the vote. Köksal ended the 20-year rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP in the city.
The mayor on Wednesday told Halk TV that she requested a sweep of city hall due to claims of the existence of bugs and hidden cameras in the municipal building.
She said four bugs were detected in the mayor’s office and other locations in addition to two hidden cameras, one in her office and the other in the waiting room.
“We are trying to locate the computer the cameras are connected to. We don’t know where the surveillance feed is being monitored from,” Köksal added.
The mayor further said that when she asked Hüseyin Menteş, the AKP’s provincial chair in the city, about the devices, Menteş said the AKP had nothing to do with it.
“The Afyonkarahisar Municipality has been under AKP rule for 20 years. Who could be behind this? Surely, the strongest suspicion falls on the ruling party,” Köksal said, advising all new mayors in her party to conduct a similar sweep of official premises.
Köksal also said the municipality’s estimated debt amounts to TL 1 billion ($30.7 million) and that she would share the exact figure with the public once it is determined.
Alper Yeğin, the new mayor of İstanbul’s Sancaktepe district from the CHP, also revealed the municipality’s debts totaling 1.9 billion lira ($48.5 million) and lavish spending during the tenure of the former mayor of the district from the AKP.
After assuming office for the first time after the 2019 elections, İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu also revealed files detailing illegal spending and irregularities in the municipality during AKP rule, filing criminal complaints against 23 people.
Erdoğan and AKP politicians frequently attract criticism for wasting taxpayers’ money due to their lavish spending and luxurious lifestyles at a time of increased poverty in the country.