Tekkeköy Municipality has a debt of 575 million Turkish Lira

During the council meeting of Tekkeköy Municipality in Samsun, it was announced that the current total debt of the municipality is 575 million TL. In the council, clarity was provided on the issues of transferring a 90,000 square meter area to the Metropolitan Municipality and staff layoffs. The June Council Meeting of Tekkeköy Municipality took place in the municipality’s council hall. The 2 agenda items discussed at the council meeting were unanimously approved. During the off-agenda discussions, Tekkeköy Deputy Mayor Sakine Kanber and Vice President of the Council Aydın Çift made statements regarding the 90,000 square meter area within the Eti Copper Operations, the current debt of Tekkeköy Municipality, and staff layoffs.
“Only 95 people have been laid off” Speaking about staff layoffs and debt, Vice President of the Council Aydın Çift said, “Tekkeköy Municipality currently has a total debt of 575 million TL. Of this, 58 million TL is institutional debt, tax debts, 63 million TL are social security debts, 31 million TL is owed to Iller Bank, 35 million TL to private banks, current market debts amount to 219 million TL, entrusted debts 16 million TL, debts to other institutions 49 million TL, making a total of 575 million TL debt. When we took office, there were 474 people working in construction and zoning in the municipality. Excluding civil servants and permanent employees, there were 474 people. Among these 474 people, 67 were hired in 2024. Except for 7-8 of these 67 people, the rest never showed up to work. They received salaries for 1 month, 2 months, 3 months without working. We automatically dismissed them. They are not showing up for work anyway. The municipality is incurring losses. When we took office, there were a total of 407 people working in construction and zoning in the municipality. The total number of staff we laid off is 95 people. There is a perception in the public that we have laid off all employees. This is not true. Only 95 people have been laid off.”
“Metropolitan Municipality must give this” Vice President of the Council Aydın Çift said the following about the 90,000 square meter area: “There are some factors that are beyond our control. Either you take 150,000 square meters or you take nothing. It means that nothing can be done without the Metropolitan Municipality. The law is very clear on this matter. The Metropolitan Municipality prepares the 5,000-scale zoning plans. Tekkeköy Municipality prepares the 1,000-scale zoning plans. I will also say this: When the Metropolitan Municipality needs it, they prepare the 1,000-scale plans without consulting you. But you cannot prepare the 5,000-scale plans. Every string is in the hands of the Metropolitan Municipality. The Metropolitan Municipality must give this. There is nothing to be done about it.”
Explaining the process regarding the 90,000 square meter area, Tekkeköy Deputy Mayor Sakine Kanber said, “This area was created by a zoning plan amendment in the 6th month of the year 2023. It is a 90,000 square meter area formed longitudinally in the middle of Eti Copper. We have a title deed for a 150,000 square meter property within Eti Copper. When we went to the former Mayor Mustafa Demir to transfer the 250,000 square meter property to the municipality, he mentioned that the square meterage was too high, and we couldn’t transfer that much square meters to Tekkeköy Municipality, requesting that half of it be given to the Metropolitan Municipality. Logically, we would like to have the 250,000 square meters, but since we, as a district municipality, cannot make a zoning plan amendment without the approval of the Metropolitan Municipality, an agreement was reached for the approval of the zoning plan amendment regarding the transfer of 100,000 square meters out of the 150,000 square meters to them. After the 250,000 square meters was titled to our municipality, 100,000 square meters was transferred to the Metropolitan Municipality in accordance with the relevant law article. When our municipality noticed the area created by this zoning plan amendment, since it passed through our municipality, and we saw that it was a park area, we realized that such a green area in the middle of Eti Copper would hinder the operation of the factory, which anyone looking at it technically could see. We thought it would be more appropriate for this to be postponed until after the elections. When we went to Mayor Mustafa Demir with the 90,000 square meter area, he would either ask for half of it or most of it. Since he knew that 100,000 out of the 150,000 square meters had been left to us last time, to prevent such a thing from happening, it was deemed appropriate to wait for such a process to take place after the elections. We waited until our Tekkeköy Mayor Mustafa Candal called us about 2 weeks after the elections. When he called me in, I went with the files. I provided information about the projects and works. What I told him was: ‘We have a 150,000 square meter property within Eti Copper, but there is a 90,000 square meter green area, we must act quickly regarding this green area, if we do not get it in the first council meeting, the Metropolitan Municipality has the right to do it before us.’ The Metropolitan Municipality council agenda was published. I checked the Metropolitan Municipality council agenda to see if there was anything for our district. The Metropolitan Municipality did not explicitly state it on the council agenda. It only stated ‘establishment of an industrial parcel within the borders of Tekkeköy.’ I went to the Mayor and talked about it. I said, ‘There is such an item on the Metropolitan Municipality council agenda, I could not find out what it is, it’s important.’ Afterward, the Mayor called me and said, ‘yes, it is the item you mentioned.’ ‘What can we do?’ he asked. I said, ‘We can’t do anything.’ I told the Mayor to call the Metropolitan Municipality Mayor, maybe we can negotiate to get half of it. Our Mayor called the Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Halit Bey. After they finished the conversation, the Deputy Secretary General of the Metropolitan Municipality Zennube Hanım said, ‘let the 90,000 square meters stay with us, we will produce other areas for you there.’ I think an agreement was reached regarding half of the area.
The council meeting concluded after the discussions related to the area.