Kilicdaroglu: 1,000 companies robbed the Treasury in the last 20 years

The main presidential candidate of the opposition in Turkey, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said in a video on Friday that "around 1,000 government supporting businesses have formed a network in the last 20 years to rob the Treasury."

"There is this money that was stolen for you, it's exactly 418 billion dollars," he said.

Herkesin kiminle ve ne ile mücadele ettiğimizi çok iyi anlaması gerekiyor. Bu iş çok ciddi, bu seçim de çok hayati. Ey çeteler! Siz hala anlamadınız, Bay Kemal asla yolundan dönmez. pic.twitter.com/ieW6axTalu

— Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (@kilicdarogluk) April 7, 2023

Announcing on Twitter that the government media has refused to broadcast short campaign videos on this issue, Kilicdaroglu then posted some of these videos in which he promises to reduce the tax burden on people, or to provide free milk and meals for students, by means of public financing that will be created by recovering the "stolen money."

According to Kilicdaroglu, the "stolen money" is equal to the public financial losses, or to "ill-gotten gains" under the governments of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 2002, caused by government contracts and other deals in five industries, particularly in construction and energy.

A CHP report asserts that the public financial loss in the last 20 years amounts to 2.572 trillion TL.