The mayor of the municipality, whose accounts have been blocked, announced that he will enter house arrest.

The Mayor of Ereğli, Umut Akpınar, stated that due to SGK debt, a restriction has been placed on the municipality's accounts, and he has started a "house arrest" for two days.

The CHP Mayor of Ereğli district in Konya, Umut Akpınar, reported that his accounts have been blocked due to a 70 million lira SGK debt from the previous term, and as a result, he has been unable to pay employee salaries.

"THE MONEY FROM THE ILLER BANK DOES NOT COVER PERSONNEL EXPENSES"

Expressing that they are facing obstacles as a municipality, Akpınar said, "A collective agreement was made in this municipality in January last year. So, I ask, how much were union rights granted in this municipality before January 2024? How much collective bargaining was done? My dear fellow citizens, as per the collective agreement made in January, the worker wages, which were approximately 17 thousand lira, were raised to 24-25 thousand lira, and since that date, the amounts that should have been paid to SGK have not been deposited. In other words, the debt starts from that period. It does not start before 2024. It starts from the beginning of 2024. When we came here on March 31, we also started paying our personnel's salaries. At that time, if you remember, our income from the Iller Bank was about 23 million. Right now, I am saying on average that our income from the Iller Bank is around 28-30 million. So, how much is our personnel expense? Over 30 million... In other words, the money coming from the Iller Bank does not cover our personnel expenses," he stated.

"WE HAVE A DEBT OF 76 MILLION 660 THOUSAND LIRA"

"Now the question is, does a municipality that cannot cover personnel expenses pay salaries for 8 months? Yes, it does. Did it lay off workers? No," said Akpınar, adding, "As of December 17, of course, this figure will not be the same when we receive it today because SGK has a very serious interest. If we receive it a day later, this figure changes again; here you go, we have a net debt of 76 million 660 thousand lira. Yes, so why are we making this statement now? For this reason, at the point we have reached, SGK blocked our accounts as of last week. How will we deposit salaries on January 15? How will we transfer salaries from a blocked account? You will have about 30 million lira in Iller Bank income, and the tax office will make deductions from that," he expressed.

"OUR ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN BLOCKED"

Recalling that a restriction has been placed on the municipality's accounts, Akpınar said, "You will try to carry out all the work in the city flawlessly. You will run day and night, and then SGK will come and block you. The tax office will come and ask you about the accounts from 2019. These are not correct understandings; on October 2, we wrote to the SGK Ereğli Central Directorate stating that we wanted to pay our debts, we made a request, but we did not receive any response, and last week our accounts were blocked. We say, 'Let’s give land,' and they ask for 'court decision, council decision.' We obtained the council decision. We applied to the courthouse, but for two weeks, look, for two weeks, even the value determination could not be made," he said.

"THE PUBLIC IS BEING PUNISHED"

Akpınar also stated, "We want to arrange installments. No initiative has been taken in this regard. I went to the SGK General Directorate and told them, 'Please help us, we do not want anything; we will pay the debts,' but I came from Ankara, and three days later, our accounts were blocked. There is cooperation among the state institutions. There is a solution. At the point we have reached, a solution is not being produced; rather, a lack of solution is being produced. The people of the city are being punished. This debt is not our debt; it is the debt owed to the tax office from 2019 to 2024. For five years, no letter has come here. A letter has come five years later saying we will collect this debt, and as I mentioned earlier, our share from the Iller Bank, which is not enough for us, has been cut for three months. Now I ask, is this justice? I will create a sensitivity; symbolically, I will stay at home for 2 days. This is a symbolic reaction to create awareness in the public, and we will continue our work like lions at the forefront," he said.