A former Public Servant has been deemed by Turkey’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance to be ineligible to benefit from a real estate tax break granted to people who have no income.
The Ministry justified its decision on the grounds that the man had been dismissed from the Public Service under an emergency decree in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt and therefore had failed in his duty of loyalty to the State.
It is seen as yet another example of the persecution of the 130,000 Public Servants who were sacked under emergency decree-laws following the failed coup.
The Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) has accused many of ties to terrorist groups, yet has failed to provide any evidence of this.
The workers were not given any right of appeal while many of them have subsequently faced interrogation, trial and imprisonment.
The former Public Servant applied to his Municipality to take advantage of a regulation that grants reduced real estate tax to low-income households with a single residence of less than 200 square meters.
The Municipality rejected his application after seeking an official opinion from the Ministry.
It referred to a letter received from the Ministry, stating that “the tax deduction is a public service from which the dismissed person cannot benefit since he failed to fulfil his duty of loyalty to the State”.
The former Public Servant took this rejection to the National Ombudsman, who found the decision of the Municipality unlawful, saying that even if the applicant was a dismissed Public Servant he was entitled to the reduction in property taxes in the absence of a rule specifically barring him.
However, the Municipality rejected the Ombudsman’s ruling, which is not legally binding.
The former worker has since filed a suit in the Administrative Court, where a decision is still pending.
Ankara, 17 May 2020
