A lawmaker from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has released a list of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) bureaucrats who are paid two or three monthly salaries under different state job titles, the Sözcü daily reported on Thursday.
The total salaries of some AKP bureaucrats exceed even President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s monthly salary of TL 88,000, equivalent to around $10,000.
“Most of them were former deputy candidates or former deputies of the AKP. People are hungry, but pro-government figures are rich with salaries. What kind of a system is this?” asked CHP lawmaker Deniz Yavuzyılmaz.
Turkey’s ruling AKP and its leader Erdoğan are widely criticized by the opposition for getting its cronies paid several salaries, a practice that has sparked public outrage amid the country’s struggling economy.
Even AKP supporters disapprove of this cronyism, as revealed in a recent survey by MetroPOLL.
The survey showed that 61 percent of AKP supporters do not approve of bureaucrats and AKP advisors being paid more than one monthly salary by different companies or state agencies. This disapproval figure came in at 89 percent among CHP voters, 85.5 percent among pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) voters and 72.6 percent among Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters.
Multiple salaries for a bureaucrat or AKP advisor was considered wrong by 70.6 percent of respondents in total.
The list of AKP bureaucrats who are paid two or three salaries under different state job titles is as follows:
Nadir Alpaslan: Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism, total salary: TL 176,000.
Burhan Ersoy: Director General of Foundations, total salary: TL 176,000.
Şakir Ercan Gül: Deputy Minister of Finance, total salary: TL 81,005.
Hüseyin Aydın: Former Director General of Ziraat Bank, total salary: TL 74,000.
Salim Arda Ermut: Director General of Turkey’s Wealth Fund, total salary: TL 66,917.
Erdal Erdem: Board member of Kardemir, total salary: TL 62,403.
Ömer Fatih Sayan: Deputy Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, total salary: TL 61,766.
Selim Dursun: Deputy Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, total salary: TL 61,766.
Enver İskurt: Deputy Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, total salary: TL 61,766.
Nurettin Nebati: Deputy Minister of Treasury and Finance TL 61,766.
Bülent Aksu: Former Deputy Minister of Treasury and Finance, total salary TL 56,000.
Mehmet Ceylan: Former Deputy Minister of Environment and Urban Planning, total salary: TL 44,000.
Mehmet Bostan: Former board member of Turkey’s Wealth Fund, total salary: TL 44,000.
Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk: Former Minister of Family, Employment and Social Services, total salary: TL 39,423.
Source:Turkish Minute
