On yer bike!
It was ‘Two wheels good, four wheels bad’ for Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş in the face of the TL crisis this week — but he rode straight into ridicule and a row about a car for former president Mehmet Ali Talat.
FINANCE Minister Serdar Denktaş has come under fire after a “thrifty” ride to work — on an electric bicycle believed to cost nearly 30,000TL.
Mr Denktaş caught the attention of media when he was seen riding his bike some 2.5km from his home in Lefkoşa to the extraordinary session of Parliament on Tuesday and a meeting at the Presidency on Wednesday, where he “parked” near the official cars of other ministers.
Speaking in Tuesday’s parliamentary debate about the currency crisis, Mr Denktaş gave himself as an example, saying he had started cycling to work recently to save on fuel costs.
He told fellow MPs, “I have found the remedy in [using the] bicycle” and invited everyone to take their own steps in the face of the plummeting Turkish lira.
However newspaper reports of his economy drive also reflected “shock” at the price of the bike, asking what sort of a message was really being given.
The bike, a Corratec E-Bow 29, is advertised online at between £2,500 and 4,500 euros — some 29,700TL.
Commenting on social media, one poster said: “When a German minister goes to work with a bike, you say, ‘Bravo look how European and civilised and humble he is.’ When Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş does it, you say ‘What a populist putting on a show. In short, you are not sincere’.”
There was more outrage online when another transport issue surfaced, with news that former president Mehmet Ali Talat had been bought a brand new Toyota car valued at 200,000TL, to replace his old vehicle — part of the country’s obligation to former presidents, which also includes funding their offices.
One angry mother posted a video clip online, saying: “When we are struggling to think about how we are going to make ends meet and how to educate and feed our children. When we go to the supermarkets, we have kittens when we see the cost of food . . . [and] you are buying cars for each other. Enough is enough!”
Mr Denktaş waded in after the wave of social media reaction, saying Mr Talat had not been aware that the new car, ordered in November under the previous government, had been bought for him.
He said it would be deployed elsewhere instead after Mr Talat issued a statement “refusing” to accept the vehicle on Wednesday.