Two hundred chandeliers hanging from the ceilings above the stairs of the AK Saray presidential palace cost as much as $35 million, according to the Ankara branch of the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects’ Chambers (TMMOB).
The amount could light the homes of 6 million people, said the TMMOB, and is the equivalent of nearly 37,000 minimum wage salaries in Turkey, where the minimum monthly earnings for a single worker stand at TL 949, currently equal to roughly $354.
According to the TMMOB, the chandeliers in Ak Saray were furnished using expensive Swarovski crystals, and that each chandelier contains upwards of 10,000 Swarovski crystals, meaning that the imported production costs for each chandelier range between an estimated 50,000 and 100,000 euros.
The current residence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ak Saray was built illegally on protected forest land in the capital of Ankara at an official cost of TL 1.37 billion.
The TMMOB had previously released a number of details and information related to the monthly costs of Erdoğan’s lavish palace. According to the chamber, the cost of cooling the palace for a month is around TL 600,000, while heating (gas) and lighting expenses total some TL 1.6 million and TL 1.2 million, respectively. The cost of cleaning the presidential palace is around TL 8 million. Additional claims surfaced indicating that gold-plated water glasses used at the palace cost TL 1,000 each