President Erdoğan's Toys Stolen from His Palace in Ankara

türkçe  links to original Turkish article

(Cumhuriyet Newspaper, 1 May 2022) 

                                       Captive audience.

A theft has been reported from President Erdoğan's Beştepe Palace in

Ankara.  Six workers at the palace stole radio-commanded car toys

and dolls that Erdoğan hands out to children during his trips within

Turkey.  The toys were in a depot underneath the mosque in the palace

compound. The palace thieves loaded them into official vehicles and

sold them to toy stores at reduced prices. (!) 

The Presidential Guard Force determined that in the past month 

920,000 TL (about $61,000) worth of toys were stolen and sold.

Eight people, 6 of them palace workers, were taken into custody

and three of them jailed.  An investigation revealed that the sale

of the stolen palace toys has been ongoing for five years.  

Searches conducted at the homes and workplaces of the suspects

revealed that 624 toys were in the depot of a stationary store owned

by M.B. and 36 others were found in the home of palace worker 

S.G.