The Turkish government came under fresh pressure over its response to the bushfires that ravaged the country for almost two weeks after it emerged the forestry agency spent more than ten times its firefighting outlay on basketball.
The General Directorate of Forestry, or OGM, spent 40 million Turkish lira ($4.6 million) on Ormanspor men’s and women’s basketball teams last season, the agency’s financial records show.
It was revealed last week that OGM spent only 3.4 million lira in the first six months of this year on projects and equipment for preventing and combating forest fires, despite an allocated 193 million lira budget for such measures.
As Turkey battled its worst bushfires over the past two weeks, authorities were criticised for a lack of preparation in regions regularly hit by seasonal fire. Eight people have been killed and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed as the flames swept across the south-west coast and further inland.
Heavy rains helped to douse the flames over the weekend, with all the fires under control except for three blazes in the south-west, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on Monday.
“The OGM has an annual allowance of more than 4 billion lira and only 190 million lira of this has been allocated to fight the fires, of which only 3 million lira has been used,” said Murat Emir, an MP for the opposition Republic People’s Party, who submitted a written question to Mr Pakdemirli.
“However, when we look at the budget allocated to Ormanspor, we see that almost 40 million lira was spent. This budget is almost four times the size of that of Besiktas, who played in the semi-finals of the basketball league.”
Turkey has a history of public bodies – from municipal authorities to utility companies – funding sports clubs that play in the professional leagues.
Ankara-based Ormanspor – the name translates as Forest Sport – fields basketball sides in the men’s and women’s leagues. The women’s team finished the season in fourth place in May while the men were relegated from the top flight after coming last with only seven wins in 30 matches.
Mr Emir questioned some of the spending at the club and said it had not disclosed the amount spent on players’ wages.
He highlighted a director’s 38-year-old son who has been on Ormanspor’s books for 10 years and played for only a few minutes in 16 games last season. He also claimed a 42-year-old women’s team player was a friend of Mr Pakdemirli’s wife.
“The club does not disclose contract fees for players,” he said. “Why doesn’t a publicly funded club disclose contract fees for players?
“The OGM budget was planned as though there weren’t going to be any fires.”
Sports journalist Alp Ulagay said the "true figures" of spending lacked transparency. "In basketball and volleyball, particularly in clubs owned by public bodies, it’s very difficult to follow the spending and management,” he said.
The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, which oversees the OGM, did not respond to a request for comment.
The OGM posted a statement on Twitter, later deleted the tweet, which described the suggestions as “far from reality” and claimed the “total budget for amateur teams that we support throughout Turkey through our two Super League [basketball] teams and regional directorates is 15 million lira”.
Referring to earlier revelations that the OGM report showed a nominal amount of 1,000 lira had been allocated towards the purchase of 26 helicopters, the directorate said the “trace allowance” was “intended to show that the project is still an ongoing project”.
The statement said a “total budget” of 1.5 billion lira for aircraft and land vehicles in 2021 and would be “spent by the end of the year”.
“What’s the source of the 1.5 billion lira?” Mr Emir said. “Will you spend it after the forests are burnt to the ground?”
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Pickford, Pope.
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Dier, Gomez, Keane, Maguire, Maitland-Niles, Mings, Saka, Trippier, Walker.
Midfielders Henderson, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Winks.
Forwards Abraham, Barnes, Calvert-Lewin, Grealish, Ings, Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling.
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
THE%20SPECS
%3Cp%3EBattery%3A%2060kW%20lithium-ion%20phosphate%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20Up%20to%20201bhp%3Cbr%3E0%20to%20100kph%3A%207.3%20seconds%3Cbr%3ERange%3A%20418km%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh149%2C900%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: N2 Technology
Founded: 2018
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Startups
Size: 14
Funding: $1.7m from HNIs
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
On sale: now
Company profile
Name: Oulo.com
Founder: Kamal Nazha
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2020
Number of employees: 5
Sector: Technology
Funding: $450,000
Race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Leganes v Getafe (12am)
Levante v Alaves (4pm)
Real Madrid v Sevilla (7pm)
Osasuna v Valladolid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Eibar v Atletico Madrid (12am)
Mallorca v Valencia (3pm)
Real Betis v Real Sociedad (5pm)
Villarreal v Espanyol (7pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Barcelona v Granada (12am)
Manchester United's summer dealings
In
Victor Lindelof (Benfica) £30.7 million
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) £75 million
Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) £40 million
Out
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Released
Wayne Rooney (Everton) Free transfer
Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad) £9.8 million
