Turkey has the highest number of official cars compared to other countries around the world, according to a report drafted by a journalist.
Semra Topçu, who authored the report on official car ownership by country, shared the results from her YouTube channel.
According to the report Turkey has 125,000 official cars while Germany has 9,000 and France 8,000.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s office has use of 268 official cars, while only two official vehicles were used by the presidency when Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.
Turkey is also the leading country in the number of official planes used by state officials. Turkey has 16 official planes, France has 14, Germany has 12, Italy has 11 and Japan has only two official aircraft.
Before the AKP came to power, the president’s office did not have a VIP aircraft, and then-President Ahmet Necdet Sezer used to travel on two Gulf-4 planes that belonged to the Turkish Air Forces.
Erdoğan and his ruling AKP officials have long been criticized for spending taxpayers’ money on luxury transportation.
Not only Erdoğan but also ministers and high-ranking state officials use official planes when travelling. Turkish government officials are never seen taking a commercial flight when travelling on business.