Reaction from the Homeland Party to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s decision to offer IGDAS to the public

Ibrahim Okan Özkan, the Istanbul Provincial Chairman of the Homeland Party, reacted to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s decision to take IGDAS public, stating, ‘They will crush and abandon the future of the 16 million people of Istanbul that Ekrem Imamoglu claims to represent everywhere, leaving them below the market value.’ Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Head of Financial Services Department, Neslihan Vural, announced that they will take IGDAS public with a valuation of 10 billion dollars, to which the Homeland Party reacted. The party’s Istanbul Provincial Chairman Ibrahim Okan Özkan made statements to journalists at the meeting hall of the provincial headquarters in Beyoglu. ‘What is referred to as an IPO is actually privatization,’ said Istanbul Provincial Chairman Ibrahim Okan Özkan, criticizing Ekrem Imamoglu’s Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for planning to reduce its stake in IGDAS to below 20% with a valuation of 10 billion dollars. Following IGDAS, the public offerings of ISPARK, Hamidiye Water, and Public Bread are also among the topics discussed. Regarding the public offering of IGDAS, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Imamoglu uses the following statements: ‘Does public offering mean privatization? Not entirely. Is public offering possible? It is possible. Is it on our agenda? No, it is.’ What do we understand from these statements? The public offering of IGDAS and other golden egg-laying chickens of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is on their agenda, which means privatization under the guise of a public offering,’ he said. Criticizing Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Özkan said, ‘Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is not your father’s farm. The first preparations of the CHP, which gained the majority in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council, were privatization. Despite claiming that they made these initiatives to generate resources for new services, they will leave the distribution of natural gas to Istanbul residents at the mercy of the market. Privatization and public offering mean this. By leaving it to the mercy of the market, they will crush and abandon the future of the 16 million people of Istanbul that Imamoglu claims to represent everywhere.’ Saying that privatization will affect the people of Istanbul, Özkan stated, ‘Great rights violations have always emerged from privatizations. Workers employed by municipal companies will suffer rights violations, and the people of Istanbul will face the danger of high bills. We saw this in the privatization of electricity. The reason why our citizens struggle with high electricity bills was the profit-oriented approach of electricity distribution companies.’