Former President Mehmet Çerçi’s Response to Office and Municipality Allegations

Response to Former Mayor Mehmet Çerçi’s Allegations About His Office

Former Yunusemre Municipality Mayor Mehmet Çerçi responded to the allegations of ‘building a luxury office’ about him, stating, ‘All of these are items that my wife and I have collected over the years, and their cost is not that high. We have also bought many of them from flea markets. If the mayor had respectfully said, ‘Mr. Mayor, these are very nice items, the office looks great, and it suits Yunusemre. Your personal belongings, let them be a gift to the municipality,’ I swear I would have said, ‘Good luck and best wishes.’

Response to Municipality Debt and Other Allegations

In response to Mayor Semih Balaban’s disclosure of Yunusemre Municipality’s debt, Çerçi stated, ‘He says there is a debt of 1.1 billion. 200 million of this must have gone to the energy power plant, and the payments and installments are ongoing. Now, this 4-megawatt solar power plant built on 65 acres generates an annual income of 22 million Turkish Liras, based on the current EPDK unit prices of 2.7 TL per kilowatt-hour. While doing this, our municipality’s cultural and art projects, social aid support, health service support, youth sports support, earthquake and pandemic aid are not included.’

Addressing the allegations of hiring additional staff at the municipality, Çerçi said, ‘I speak with evidence and documents. By the way, I also bought the items in the hall downstairs. They were already part of the beautiful decoration of the hall. They were mine as well. For them, ‘leave the children’s hall or such out of the record. They do not have a single penny from the municipality. Except for the tables. There are 3 sets of sofas. I personally paid for all of them, put them there.’

• Çerçi’s wife’s salary: 50,000 TL
• Çerçi’s salary: 100,000 TL
• Salary received from the municipality: 150,000 TL

Regarding the decorative stove that came up in the agenda, Çerçi mentioned that he bought it from his own pocket for 55,000 TL two years ago, stating that all the furniture belonged to him and that he was still paying installments for some of them.

AK Party Manisa Provincial Chairman Salih Hızlı, AK Party Manisa Promotion and Media Chairman Emre Şener, and AK Party Yunusemre District Chairman İlkcan Durmaz attended the press release.