Turkey Opposition Says Erdogan Withholding Billions From Cities

  • President must release $1.8 billion funding, CHP chairman says
  • CHP made historic gains on Erdogan’s party in local elections
Ozgur Ozel in Ankara on Nov. 4.Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images
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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is withholding billions of dollars of municipal funds that are crucial for investment in cities such as Istanbul and Ankara, according to the head of the main opposition party.

The country’s longest-serving leader needs to release more than $1.8 billion in approved financing that has been withheld by government or a state-run bank for two years, said Ozgur Ozel, who heads the secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP.