 in the first six months of 2024, the Birgün daily reported, citing official data.){kind=link}
Turkey’s Department of Presidential Security, responsible for the protection of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family and residences, spent more than 1.1 billion Turkish lira ($33.5 million) in the first six months of 2024, the Birgün daily reported, citing official data.
According to data from Turkey’s Security General Directorate (EGM), affiliated with the Interior Ministry, the report said Erdoğan’s security expenses in the first half of this year, TL 1.133 billion, was approximately equivalent to the monthly pensions of 90,000 retirees in Turkey when compared to the lowest pension, which is TL 12,500 ($370).
The Department of Presidential Security’s spending in the January-July period of 2024 exceeded its total spending for the entire year of 2023, which was TL 1 billion ($29.6 million).
The department’s expenditures surged from TL 262 million ($7.7 million) in 2020 to TL 306 million ($9 million) in 2021, TL 526 million ($ 15.5 million) in 2022 and TL 1 billion ($29.6 million) in 2023, according to Birgün.
Erdoğan’s large security detail, traveling with him in a convoy of more than 10 vehicles, has drawn criticism for extravagance due to the use of a number of luxury cars and also for making Erdoğan, who was called the “man of the people” in campaign slogans, inaccessible to the people.
The precise number of security personnel guarding President Erdoğan and the presidential premises has remained undisclosed for years, with queries from members of parliament going unanswered.
The news of this expenditure comes against a backdrop of economic stress for many Turkish citizens. According to the results of a SONAR survey conducted in July, when asked what they considered the most important problem in the country, 59.3 percent of respondents named the economic situation, with its high rate of inflation and cost of living.
Turkey’s poor and middle-income families have been hit the hardest by an economic crisis that saw the official annual inflation rate reach a decades-high of 85 percent in October 2022. The rate then fell off with fluctuations.
According to official data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the annual rate of inflation stood at 61.78 percent in July, but ENAG, an independent group of economists, disputed TurkStat data and said annual inflation was much higher than was announced by TurkStat, standing at 100.88 percent in July.
The high cost of living in the country makes it difficult for millions to buy even their basic necessities and pay their rent and bills.
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said in a circular sent to all public agencies last year that they should re-evaluate all expenditures, except for earthquake-related expenses, adding that cost-saving measures will be strictly enforced.
The circular reminded recipients of a presidential circular dated June 30, 2021 that emphasized the need for cost-saving in public institutions’ expenditures, a reduction of bureaucratic procedures and effective, economical and efficient use of public resources.