Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay and leader of the People’s Party (HP) has asked Rauf Raif Denktaş University to cancel the lease on the land rented by Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş.
Özersay said that “For 15 months, while we were in government, we now want a breakdown of all leases for finance and other information that did not come to our knowledge”, he said.
He said:
“For us, it is not a question of whether the leasing is lawful or not. So when the renting is done without bidding, yes, there is a problem and you can discuss it, but it is a matter of ethics rather than a legal issue and perhaps more important than that. It has been uncomfortable for us to have rented several times to the Council of Ministers, but it is uncomfortable to have unannounced rentals by the Ministry, despite the fact that it is known that we are opposed to leasing that we have not approved.
“1. We, as the People’s Party, have never considered it right to lease to first-degree relatives of the Ministers, i.e. in this case, the ministry of the State to the children of a minister. However, this process has been done by a partner who knows that we are opposed to it, without our knowledge, despite our objections.
“2. We want to cancel this lease. In the context of the procurement law, by a tender or by a procedure to be determined, the project of the relevant person or company fulfils the criteria and rents the land by tender, no one will object to it, even if it is a minister’s son.
“3. During the last 15 months, we asked for the breakdown of all such leases that were made by the Finance while we were in government and this did not come to our knowledge. We believe it is necessary to share this with the public. And yes we will raise this issue at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers. We will also carefully examine who is leasing on that list.
“As Einstein once said, “It is not the skeletal and muscular system, but its principles and beliefs that keep people alive. I think this statement, in a sense, also applies to political parties”.
