President Seçer: 'We will lay the foundation of Mersin Metro on January 3'

Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer was the guest of the live broadcast of the 'Ankara Time' program broadcast on KRT TV. Seçer answered Elif Doğan Şentürk's questions about the agenda. President Seçer said that they will lay the foundation of Mersin Metro with the participation of CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and IYI Party Chairman Meral Akşener on the 3th anniversary of Mersin's liberation, and said, "The era of rail systems will begin in Mersin."

“There is an understanding of municipality that deals with the problems of the people and is in touch with them”

Responding to Elif Doğan Şentürk's question, Mayor Seçer made evaluations about the 'terror' inspection of the Ministry of Interior against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and said: We have a response in society, we need to see this. Especially while the pandemic process continues, the actions of the municipalities belonging to the Nation Alliance during the economic crisis are obvious. There is an understanding of social municipality that deals with the problems of the people and is in touch with them. It has its value in society. Every mayor can go out on the street very easily and walk around in public. This may cause discomfort to some people. Such smear campaigns with unnecessary, trivial reasons and references, and this is unfortunately happening by the state, by the means of the state, by using the authorities of the state. This makes us very sad. The attacks against our Istanbul Mayor are also a part of them,” he said.

“The state has put a serious distance between us and us”

President Seçer talked about an incredible process of injustice, lawlessness, discrimination and marginalization and said:

“Mayors who are members of the People's Party or Nation Alliance and the Mayors who are members of the People's Alliance do not have the same opportunities or the opportunities or opportunities to benefit from state facilities and state institutions are not the same. The state has put a serious distance between us. However, there should not be a distance, at least it should be at the same distance. Unfortunately, we are faced with such a situation. Opportunities provided for the allocation of finance to municipalities on lands or lands or some immovables belonging to the Treasury are not provided to mayors belonging to the Nation Alliance as much as they are provided to the People's Alliance. The mayors belonging to the Nation Alliance won huge cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Mersin and Antalya in the March 31 elections and inherited a burden for better or worse. Municipalities from a different management approach have now evolved into our management approach. There are also areas in the middle where there is great destruction. We are trying to eliminate that destruction with our opportunities and revenues arising from the current laws, on the one hand, we are trying to provide services to the citizens, make new investments, make their lives easier in these newly formed conditions during the pandemic process, and catch up with everything from hunger in the stomach in the economic crisis to the problem of burning in the cold in winter. . This is the table.”

“You overcome one obstacle, a different one appears in front of you”

Referring to the difficulties experienced in obtaining borrowing authority, Seçer explained the court process and said, “You can definitely make a decision as the Assembly, but you cannot take this decision arbitrarily. It has to have a legal basis, he says. The Judiciary has already clearly written this in the reasoning of the court decision, since you, as the Municipal Assembly, cannot prevent the services that the administration, that is, the municipality, will provide to the people of the town, cannot postpone them, and make this restriction. We made such a decision, you know. In the past weeks, we brought it to the agenda of the Assembly and we made a decision in the Assembly to implement it. Ultimately, it has to be. Otherwise, if a positive decision had not been made, the Assembly would have abused its power. In this sense, of course, you are overcoming an obstacle, a different obstacle appears before you. Now you have made such a decision at the end of the year. We are entering the new year this weekend. We haven't been able to borrow money until now," he said.

“Municipalities belonging to the People's Alliance find financing with much better opportunities”

Adding that public banks do not provide finance or lend to them, President Seçer said, “You go to private banks, they bring water from forty streams. Now he brings the economic situation and puts it in front of you, it comes up with ridiculous figures in interest rates. He says, 'Go get a Letter of Guarantee from Iller Bank'. Iller Bank is also at the disposal of the political will. Members of the Nation Alliance have already closed the doors. It seems to provide us with some opportunities in absolutely essential conditions, at points where it can no longer escape, but when we look at it in general, many of our jobs are not seen in Iller Bank. This is also the case in the Union of Municipalities of Turkey. The same is true for regional development agencies. Municipalities provide the resources of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey, while municipalities provide a significant part of the resources of the development agencies. This is the reason why Iller Bank was founded, but you see, it makes an incredible distinction between municipalities. Municipalities belonging to the People's Alliance find financing with relatively better means than municipalities belonging to the Nation Alliance, receive vehicle aid or receive grants in different fields. So is the Ministry of Urban Planning. Our municipalities cannot benefit from these opportunities,” he said.

“We will lay the foundation of Mersin Metro on January 3”

Announcing that they will lay the foundation of Mersin Metro on the 3th anniversary of Mersin's liberation on January 100, President Seçer said, “The era of rail systems will begin in Mersin. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the Chairman of our party, and Meral Akşener, the Chairman of the IYI Party, will honor us at this groundbreaking ceremony. Together with all our people, together with the people of Mersin, on this important day, on January 3, at 15.00 in Mersin, we will lay the foundation of the Mersin Metro in the Republic Area. His signature was finally published in the Presidency Strategy Department. He had been waiting for almost a year. Now in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. We are waiting there. Hopefully, we will get out of there as soon as possible and start our work as soon as possible. The more time we waste, the higher the costs. The more time we waste, the country lags behind in service or loses time. Despite all these difficulties, we are still doing important work.”

President Seçer, adding that the fluctuations in exchange rates are reflected in the services, said, “In May of this year, we brought 87 new CNG buses to the people of Mersin. If we buy the same buses as the 152 buses we bought for 87 million liras, be sure that we will only be able to buy them for 350 million liras. When you waste time, it comes out of your purse. What you can do for 1 lira, you do for 3 liras. Waste of time, economic loss, monetary loss and waste of resources… People expect service from us. It expects us to do serial business and provide serial service. But we are struggling,” he said.

“These events, these attitudes, these behaviors are against state traditions”

Regarding the allegations that members of the terrorist organization are employed in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Şentürk's question, "Is the aim political, or do they want to lure you into a political race?" To the question, President Seçer said, “These events, these attitudes, these behaviors are also against state traditions. He says that he has opened an investigation via Twitter. In fact, now the state administration has a nail. These are serious matters, important matters. We shouldn't talk about everything that comes to our mind. For God's sake, do we set rules according to ourselves and recruit, hire workers, hire civil servants? Is that possible? It has a rule. The work you have to do due to the law is in front of you. You want to work in the municipality, I saw you fit, you will be accepted into the municipality; Some documents are requested from you, criminal record documents are requested. If there is no problem, we will hire you”.

“We want the lists we will recruit to be investigated through the Governor's Office”

Reminding that some procedures are carried out through the Governor's Office during the personnel recruitment process, President Seçer said, “We want the lists to be recruited to be investigated through the Governor's Office, security inquiries come to us. If there is an unsuitable document, you cannot get a job anyway, but if you do not have any problems, you are hired. This is sent to the Governor's Office. The governorship is investigating this from the Ministry of Interior. It sends you the list; is positive, it is negative. We also terminate their employment if there is a negativity even if two months have passed from the start date of work”.

Mayor Seçer, adding that there are mechanisms to check the criminal record of people working or will work in public institutions, and that the municipality does not have such a duty, said, “Whether a person is a member of any terrorist organization, whether he has committed an infamous crime or whether he has been sentenced, whether he has a criminal record or not. It's not my job, it's not the municipality's job. There are institutions, there is the Ministry of Interior, there is the Ministry of Justice. They carry out the necessary investigations, investigations and prosecutions regarding these issues, they present the documents before us, and we act accordingly. If we are going to label someone as terrorist or criminal, different institutions will do this anyway, that is, they will question whether this crime is proven or whether these people working in our municipality are terrorists. We are not," he said.

“We have no fear of being audited for the work we do”

Responding to the question asked by CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu regarding the sentence "The phones of our mayors are being tapped", Mayor Seçer stated that he had nothing to hide and said:

“Personally, let me tell you my frank opinion; is being done. These were heard by us from time to time. The institutions working on this issue have formed special teams, that each of us is under follow-up; It's okay for us, let them do it within the law. All eyes will be on us. If there is any illegal business, the judicial remedy is open. They will definitely do what is necessary through the judiciary. The main thing here is: There are no inspectors from municipalities anyway. We are not afraid of what we do or being scrutinized, that's how it should be. If we say 'transparent municipality', we will not be afraid of being inspected. Let them check, there is no problem. The independence and impartiality of the state officials who will carry out this inspection and investigation here. With the instructions of the political will, they should not do their duty as their pawns. Here is our concern. Intentionally and deliberately, some unlawful transactions. For this reason, there is also this statement; If any of us is interfered with in this way, with an unlawful act, unjustly, it will be deemed to have been done to all of us. That's why we're emphasizing it. This is our concern. Otherwise, we are not afraid of being audited. Let our nation, independent courts and institutions supervise us. We see no harm in it.”

“The economic situation in Turkey has now reached the point of depression”

Stating that the agenda to be created with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is not the agenda of the citizens, Mayor Seçer said, “Whose agenda are the employees of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, their past, criminal record? What is the agenda? The pandemic, which has been experienced for about 2 years; The negativities brought by the pandemic and the economic situation in Turkey, especially in the last few months, have come to the point of depression. The course of TL against foreign currency. He went upside down all of a sudden, and got himself back together in an instant,” he said.

“Turkey is experiencing problems with each passing day and they are asked not to talk about it”

President Seçer pointed out that the agenda that should be discussed in Turkey is the economic course of the country, and used the following statements:

“Can we talk about economic stability in Turkey? Can you imagine; One day, the Dollar suddenly loses its value by 30%-40% against TL, or on the contrary, TL gains value against the Dollar. Can you talk about stability in this country? Unfortunately, this is also a source of pride. With the tax paid by the worker and the producer, the future of the money of the people who have rented and have money is guaranteed, and this is presented as an economic victory. This should be discussed in Turkey. On the one hand, workers and civil servants work; from the tax deducted before his salary goes into his pocket; You do not work, you have millions of dollars in money, you enjoy your place of residence, the state guarantees the exchange rate of your money against foreign currency with the taxes I will pay. In other words, our day passes with such absurd economic policies and discourses. Turkey is experiencing problems with each passing day and they are asked not to talk about it. After that, we spend the day with such artificial agendas.”

“Projects, services will continue”

Asked by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) that a criminal complaint was filed against 26 people who evaluated the economic process, President Seçer said, “Unfortunately, in Turkey, it is a crime to criticize, speak out or express an opinion, but these are real. Shouldn't we tell? We sell bread for 1 TL in Mersin. Hundreds of people are queuing at the hut, shall we say that? No news? Are they doing this for advertising purposes? I mean, you know there is such disinformation, but there is such a reality, of course, it needs to be talked about. This is the reflex of society in democratic societies; He will openly express what he sees, think and think, and he will openly declare this” and ended his speech with the following words:

"Life goes on. Projects and services will continue. Of course, we will have difficulties and difficulties, but we will overcome them. This country is ours.”