The Erdogans' lavish lifestyle
Attempts to alter the image of lavish spending at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s palace backfired when the unprecedented high price of the white tea consumed at the palace was revealed.
Turkey’s pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) media have gone all out in an attempt to control public opinion in the run-up to the June 7 elections, following polls indicating that the AKP is not doing so well. With the corruption probe at the end of 2013 not yet forgotten, extravagant spending at the presidential palace (White Palace) has caused an uproar in Turkey. Due to lack of transparency, it is difficult to tell how much was spent on the palace's construction and decoration, and what is spent on the maintenance of a building with more than 1,000 rooms.
The AKP’s grip on the media is well documented in Turkey and is used not only to prevent embarrassing news from spreading, but also to generate a false positive image in the public opinion of the president and his family.
