Mr Clean’s headaches over $185,000 home
Is it a controversy if a head of state buys a family home for $185,000? No, if the man is Silvio Berlusconi, but yes, if the man has lived on a modest government salary in a country where the annual per capita income is a mere $2,100 and he has not inherited a fat check from some rich relative. The mystery over their president’s posh property on the outskirts of Ankara has puzzled many Turks. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a former president of the Constitutional Court, won millions of hearts when he ordered his driver to stop at red lights, went to supermarkets to buy bargain goods, fought corruption, lived a modest life at the presidential palace and ordered his staff not to waste a penny at the office. Jokes were made over his obsession against extravagance. One of the jokes goes that one day his secretary called then President Bill Clinton’s office only to ask Washington to call back so that Ankara saved on the telephone bill. He claims to be a simple man. But he sent Turkey into its worst ever economic crisis when he once argued with government leaders, the way simple men do. A speechless and shaking Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told TV cameras that the president had thrown the constitution at him (after an argument over corruption, as it surfaced later) during a meeting of the National Security Council in February 2001. Foreign banks and investors quickly dumped their Turkish portfolios in a concerted move that forced the Turkish government to float the lira – and see half of its value evaporate in six months. The president has never been friendly with the man who picked him for the job. His fans accused the press of conspiring against «Mr Clean» when Turkish newspapers reported, with full documentation and pictures, that President Sezer had purchased a super-posh property in Golbasi, near Ankara for $185,000. They were silenced when the president admitted to the deal. The obvious question is whether it is mathematically possible for someone who earned an average $1,000 per month during 30 years of government service to save a sum of $185,000. It is possible, according to the president’s explanation. But the question has already divided the Turkish populace. Some say it is possible; some say it is not, but no one has accused the president of any sort of misbehavior. Conservatives argue that it is wrong to involve the president in any controversy simply because he is the president. Liberals say the issue is worth debating. Apparently, there are more people who advocate a debate and, fortunately, not yet any legal action against it. The bizarre thing is that even those skeptical of the president’s financial justification say «Mr Clean» is «Mr Clean,» although the numbers do not seem to add up. A little investigative journalism has revealed more. The homes next to the president’s four-story villa are still for sale for over $370,000, twice as much as the president paid for his villa. The owner of the construction company, a businessman who was to be prosecuted for bribery but was later acquitted of all charges, defends the deal on the grounds that he is prepared to sell the other villas in the neighborhood for the same price. The problem is that none of the other villas compares to the president’s property, which has a swimming pool and covers an area of over 2,000 square meters. Moreover, this businessman claims to be a close family friend of President Sezer. That leads to other questions. Could the deal have involved a «friendly» price? Could the president have any practical reason to suspect and check if the offered price was due to terms of acquaintance? And if so, would it be ethical for the president to accept a «friendly» price for the property? For most Turks, President Sezer is a symbol of honesty. He will probably remain so. He recently suggested that limiting legal immunity for politicians and bureaucrats would be the best way to fight corruption in Turkey. He may be quite right. But is he not setting a precedent for Turkish civil servants, who, when questioned, could argue that they were able to afford some ultra-posh property simply because they had saved on electricity and water? «Every new piece of knowledge is useful as it allows us to inspect cattle while they are still alive and so we can be sure about the meat going on the market,» he said, warning that it was still too early to draw conclusions.
