A museum dedicated to president of Turkey and leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be opened prior to the elections slated for summer, local media reported on Wednesday, citing a column by Murat Sabuncu on the T24 news website.
According to Sabuncu, work is underway to build the museum in İstanbul’s Kasımpaşa neighborhood, where Erdoğan was born and spent his early years, before the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled to take place in June.
Regarding the multi-story museum, the columnist said it is located by the water, has a large garden and was designed in architectural styles popular during the Great Seljuk and Ottoman empires.
Sabuncu said the owner of the land where the museum will be built is pro-government businessman Fettah Tamince, the founder and chairman of the Rixos Hotels, whose eight offshore companies in Malta and the BVI were previously revealed in Panama and Paradise Papers leaks. Tamince also faced charges of embezzlement and membership in a terrorist organization, but they were dropped later on.
The project will be carried out by Outdoor Factory (Açıkhava Fabrikası), a company known for its close links to the AKP government, the columnist said.
The museum will display photos and videos from Erdoğan’s childhood, his time in amateur football and his life before and especially during his political career as well as pictures of his family members, according to Sabuncu.
Visual effects will be projected onto the walls and front of the building, the columnist said.
Erdoğan previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of İstanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the AKP in 2001, leading it to election victories in the 2002, 2007 and 2011 general elections before being required to stand down upon his election as president in 2014. He later returned to the AKP leadership in 2017 following a referendum that year.
