Ted Ranosa, Tech Times

The mayor of Ankara, Turkey is facing charges for allegedly squandering the people’s money to pay for the construction of a 20-foot statue of a robot.

Members of Turkey's Chamber of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) are suing Mayor Melih Gökçek regarding his decision to fund a public construction project that involves the creation of robot statues. The robot figure, which the TMMOB calls a “monstrosity,” is located in the middle of a crossroad to promote a new city theme park being built at the site.

According to Tezcan Karakuş Candan, the head of TMMOB’s Ankara branch, the money spent on the building of the robot statues belong to the residents of the city. This is the reason why they decided to file the lawsuit against Gökçek.

The construction of the robot statue began on April 1, causing the locals to consider it as part of an April Fool’s Day joke by the mayor. They realized it was for real when the construction carried on beyond the date.

The giant robot statue, which resembled a Zaku mobile suit from the Japanese Mobile Suit Gundam anime, is the first in what is planned to be a series of 20 total statues for Gökçek’s “prestige project.”

When asked about the lawsuit he is facing, Gökçek’s only answer was “Respect the robot.”

Gökçek’s decision to erect the robot statue is not the only instance the mayor was questioned by the public for violating their rights.

In 1994, local artists and women’s groups accused Gökçek of vandalism and for violating the people’s freedom of expression when the mayor ordered the removal of a nude statue created by artist Mehmet Aksoy from a city park for being obscene. In 2002, the Turkish court ordered Gökçek to pay the sculptor for damages.

The mayor also received much criticism for launching a Twitter campaign against a reporter he accused of “treachery” for allegedly trying to orchestrate the collapse of Turkey’s economy as part of an international plot. The issue arose when reporter Selin Girit covered a protest rally against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is Gökçek’s fellow party member.

As one can expect, people in the Twitterverse have their opinion about this recent robot statue controversy.

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Tags: Melih Gökçek TMMOB Zaku robot statue Gundam April Fool’s
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