CHP councillor likens Istanbul municipality's debt to that of Ottoman Empire

Duvar English

A member of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) City Council for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has likened the debt of the municipality to that of the Ottoman Empire.

“Young Turkish Republic had paid the Ottoman's debt. And we will be the ones who will pay the AKP's [ruling Justice and Development Party] debts,” Tarık Balyalı, a group spokesperson of the CHP, said while addressing the İBB City Council during budget discussions on Dec. 13.

TheOttoman Empire's debt was partitioned on July 24, 1923 among thesuccessor states with Turkey taking on about two-thirds of theoutstanding debt. The last payment of the Ottoman debt washonored by Turkey on May 25, 1954.

As for Istanbul, the metropolitan municipality is also struggling with debt. Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who came to the office with a repeat election on June 23, has many times warned that the city faces bankruptcy unless an urgent action is taken, promising to cut down on spending and bring in international-standard auditors to ensure financial transparency. İmamoğlu had said on Nov. 24 that municipality had a debt of 28 billion Turkish Liras ($4.81 billion). Istanbul was run the AKP and its predecessor Welfare Party for 25 years before the CHP took its control on June 23.

Istanbul budget deficit reduced by 3.2 billion liras: Mayor

İmamoğlu addressed the İBB City Council on Dec. 13, saying that when he came to the office in June, the municipality had an overdue debt of 6 billion liras and a projected budget deficit of 7.9 billion liras for 2019. “So, an overdue debt of 6 million liras and plus a need for 8 billion liras until the end of the year. So, we have taken over a budget deficit of 14 billion liras,” İmamoğlu said, adding that the new management has accomplished to bring down the projected budget deficit of 7.9 billion liras for this year to 4.7 billion liras via mainly cutting on lavish expenditures and undertaking investments at prices well below the planned.

“So we ended the waste [of municipal funds]. And we will do more. Do not forget; we have not planned any of the works undertaken this year. The management before us had planned them. We have only managed what they planned and the works that were already initiated in line with their priorities. In summary, we have cut down the 7.9 billion liras budget deficit to 4.7 billion liras. Only in six months [since taking the office], we have achieved a saving of 3.2 billion liras from the budget which was planned by the management before us,” he said.

“But, our main performance will be seen after this, i.e. the 16 million residents of Istanbul will witness how a fair and righteous management plans a budget and executes it for 2020 and after that. We'll see that altogether in 2020,” he said.

Istanbul to need 4.7 billion liras to close 2020 budget gap: Mayor

Meanwhile, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s 2020 budget was approved by the City Council by unanimous vote. According to the budget plan, the city will collect an estimated 21.3 billion liras in revenue, marking an increase of 12 percent compared to the previous year, but expenses will total 25.9 billion liras, İmamoğlu said. “In addition to the 4.6 billion liras in budget deficit, we will have loan repayments of 3.6 billion liras. When we take into account the investment credit in the amount of 3.5 billion liras, this means a net financial need of 4.7 billion liras,” the mayor said.