AKP municipal council member resigns for 'spotting corruption'

An AKP municipal council member Esra Yılmaz has said that she resigned for spotting corruption. "I'm leaving you alone with your gang of relatives," she said.

Duvar English 

A municipal council member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has said that she resigned from her post for spotting corruption. 

Esra Yılmaz, Ankara's Mamak municipal council member, said on June 3 that she wanted to speak up against corruption, but was prevented from doing so. 

"I'm leaving you alone with your gang of relatives," Yılmaz said in a public statement addressed to Mamak Mayor Murat Köse. 

Yılmaz said that she wanted to speak during the June municipal council meeting on the corruption case, but Köse didn't allow her. 

"I spotted corruption in the municipality. I filed a lawsuit. This is the reason why I'm leaving the AKP that I had been a member of for nine years," she said. 

"My right to speak was taken away from me," Yılmaz added. 

Saying that she initially didn't question the rumors on corruption, Yılmaz noted that she took action in April 2020 and that led to her being forced to go on leave. 

"It's up to the judiciary now to look into the irregularities and corruption I spotted," she said, adding that she was subjected to mobbing and physical violence in the process. 

Yılmaz also said that Köse defended another municipal employee who "questioned her outfit."

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