Photos of Erdoğan's extravagant 'summer palace' revealed amid mass poverty

The architect of President Erdoğan's 640 million-lira summer house revealed photos of the residence that had been previously veiled, revealing a lavish palace with 300 rooms, a private beach and a swimming pool.

Duvar English - President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's summer home's architect Şefik Birkiye revealed photos of the lavish residence in Marmaris dubbed a "summer palace," the daily Sözcü reported on July 5. 

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Completed in 2019, photos of the residence had been kept secret from the public until the architectural studio released them.

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Reported to have 300 rooms, the residence is home to a private beach, constructed with padding materials that extended the natural shoreline. 

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The construction of the summer palace cost the state a whopping 640 million liras between 2018 and 2021, when the Turkish Lira simultaneously weakened against foreign currencies.

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The lavish residence drew widespread protest from the public throughout its construction as the population became increasingly impoverished, a phenomenon often blamed on the administration for their mismanagement of resources. Most recently First Lady Emine Erdoğan advised the public to shrink their food portions to combat hunger in the country.

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The construction is thought to have been built on about 90,000 square-meters of land and the campus also includes housing for staff.

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The residence includes a large swimming pool alongside small bungalows on the beach with private access to the sea. 

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Aerial views of the residence also revealed the mass deforestation caused by the construction, a common characteristic of most building projects of the state, as the house was a significant expansion on former President Turgut Özal's summer house that it replaced. 

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President Erdoğan welcomed Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in his summer residence in Marmaris over the summer of 2020.