The office of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had planned to open the gates of the newly built gigantic presidential palace called “Ak Saray” (White Palace) on Wednesday, the country's Republic Day, with a reception that excluded media outlets critical of the government, amid increasing questions over the construction of the building, which is one of the most costly presidential complexes in the world.
A deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Engin Altay, submitted a question in Parliament to be responded to by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, asking about the excessive payment to the company building the palace, which was higher than the government standard for similar projects, during the construction of “Ak Saray,” based on a report by the Court of Accounts.
The report points out that the tender for the construction of the new presidential complex -- which was originally planned to house the prime minister's office, but was then turned into a complex for Erdoğan after he was elected president on Aug. 10 -- was granted to the REC International Construction Firm (REC) secretly, at a payment up to 2,000 percent above the standard set by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization for similar projects.
In his question, deputy Altay pointed out that the Ak Saray project was excluded from the Public Tender Law due to requirements for special security measures. According to the Court of Accounts report, the tender was granted to REC by the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) on March 12, 2013, at the price of TL 351 million for the interior design of the complex.
Altay said the report included specific examples of disproportionately high amounts of money paid to the construction company. In the parliamentary question Altay asked the reason for the discrepancy between official standard pricing and the payments made to the construction company. “Do you consider differences like these to be corruption?” he asked Prime Minister Davutoğlu.
Arbitrary restrictions on media continues in 'Ak Saray'
Although President Erdoğan canceled the Republic Day reception that was to be held on Wednesday due to the mining accident that took place a day before in Karaman, once again the arbitrary exclusion of media critical of the government from presidential events was displayed.
Breaking decades-old tradition, Erdoğan decided to hold the reception in the newly built Ak Saray palace instead of the Çankaya Presidential Palace, which had gone through an extensive restoration during the term of former President Abdullah Gül. Erdoğan had extended invitations to approximately 4,000 people which did not include certain media outlets that are considered critical to his policies.
In contradiction to his vow to act as president for and embrace the entire nation, Erdoğan invited only pro-government media representatives to the Republic Day reception. Samanyolu TV, S Haber, Bugün TV, Kanaltürk, Fox TV and Halk TV are the TV stations which were excluded from the reception, while newspapers Zaman, Bugün, Yeni Asya, Cumhuriyet, Birgün and Evrensel were also not invited.
After receiving their invitations, some opposition party members announced that they would not attend the reception.
On Oct. 21, following a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) parliamentary group meeting, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said: “We will be at Anıtkabir [the mausoleum of the first Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]. We won't be attending the reception.”
Moreover, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu declared on Friday that his party will also not attend the reception because the controversial complex was built in an environmentally protected zone and it's construction is in violation of a court-issued injunction to stop the building of the complex.
Constructed inside the Atatürk Forestry Farm (AOÇ) on 300,000 square meters of land, Ak Saray may even be the world's largest residential palace. The Guinness World Records currently lists the Istana Nurul Iman palace of the sultan of Brunei, in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan, as the world's largest residential palace, with 200,000 square meters of floor space. Completed in1984, the Brunei sultan's palace cost 300 million.
Ak Saray was at the center of heated debates after Erdoğan ignored a number of court orders to halt the construction of it. Even after a court ruling in March of this year, Erdoğan, who was then prime minister, told reporters: “Let them demolish it if they have enough power to do so. They ordered a stay of execution, but they will not be able to stop it. I will open it and I will sit in it.”
The word “Ak,” the first part of “Ak Saray” also refers to the initials of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).