Epress.am News from Armenia
Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay demanded that a yacht used by Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk be turned over to his control after the boat was embroiled in a prostitution scandal involving underage girls, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The Tourism Ministry would be better able to oversee usage of the Savarona, which was used by Atatürk in the last year of his life and is currently leased by the Finance Ministry, Günay told reporters in Ankara on Wednesday. The ministry would consider turning the yacht into a museum, Günay said.
İlhan Parseker, a board member of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, or TOBB, called into question the boat’s ownership after the raid, Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review reported.
“The government has the right to re-nationalize the yacht as it was used outside of its purpose,” Parseker said.