Reaction from the Governor of Istanbul to the Mayor of Şişli

İstanbul Governor Davut Gül stated that Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan's remarks regarding the cleanliness of schools aim to portray the state and its institutions as being in a state of incapacity rather than engaging in political polemics.

Gül emphasized in a post on his social media account that he has made every effort to avoid political discussions during his tenure as a public administrator, and he noted: "However, I felt the need to make this statement because I evaluate Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan's remarks, 'The state is insufficient, institutions have collapsed, let them allow us to clean the schools,' as aiming to portray our state and its institutions as being in a state of incapacity rather than engaging in political polemics. In our Istanbul, there are a total of 3,963 primary and secondary schools. A total of 18,465 cleaning personnel serve in these schools in various statuses. All of these personnel's rights are covered by public resources. If they want to clean, they can start from the back streets that are filled with dirt. If they have a lot of money, they can pay off the debts they have not paid for years."

"AFTER PERFORMING THEIR PRIMARY DUTIES, THEY CAN SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS"

Governor Gül stated, "If they want to support other public services or our students after performing their primary duties, they can provide support to all of them under a protocol. We will not allow them to engage in wordplay with social media municipalism by providing cleaning personnel support to only 5 out of 3,963 schools and meal support to only 250 out of 3 million students, while slandering the services provided by thousands of workers."