DEM Party member Serra Bucak, who won the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality with 65 percent of the votes in the March 31 local elections, and co-chairman Doğan Hatun held a press conference at the wedding hall in the Sümerpark campus about the transparent municipal services and the debts left to them by the trustee administration after taking office.
Mayor Serra Bucak stated that they took over the Metropolitan Municipality from the trustee administration with a debt of 2 billion 438 million liras, and pointed out that this figure may increase further in the future due to some tenders. Mayor Bucak stated that they will provide regular information about both the services they will provide and the past irregular transactions, and that the 23 departments within the Metropolitan Municipality continue to investigate the past irregular transactions that fall within the scope of their departments.
Noting that they will bring some of these transactions to the agenda at the council meeting in May, Serra Bucak noted that all transactions can be followed on the official website of the municipality with a transparent municipality approach. Stating that his work in legal and other fields continues, Bucak said, “Unfortunately, our municipality building was closed to everyone for 5 uninterrupted years and 8 years in total. After March 31, our doors will be open in every department and every issue you can think of. We say that we will carry out these in a transparent manner. We will carry out these studies together with urban dynamics. We accept this as an understanding of duty and responsibility. There is a financial picture emerging. There are some tenders, and if they are completed, we will clearly announce the total debt. However, as of now, the figure we will give is 2 billion 438 million liras,” he said.
Stating that DİSKİ made a tender and there was a debt of 200 million lira, and the companies that were put out for tender were not paid and the progress payments were left until after the election, Bucak stated that 62 percent of the 2024 budget of the Press and Public Relations was spent, and that this was spent on billboards and posters during the election process.
“WE WILL TAKE BACK THE SOLD AND TRANSFERRED PROPERTIES”
Co-Chairman Doğan Hatun pointed out that trustees increasingly transferred immovable properties belonging to municipalities to different public institutions before the elections. Hatun emphasized that 13 real estate properties were sold by the trustee administration, and 9 of them were zoned lands within the administrative borders of Yenişehir. Stating that 5 properties were sold as villa areas in Kayapınar District, Doğan Hatun stated that 12 out of 15 properties were transferred to the Ministry of Youth and Sports on March 28, 3 days before the election, and 6 properties were allocated to different public institutions in January and February, before the election. He said that they have initiated a legal process regarding the arbitrary transfer of real estate, that lawyers are examining the council decisions, and that they aim to take back all of the transferred real estate and make it available to the public in the future.
