Erdoğan claims his party founded university established in 1974

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has claimed that there was no university in the central Turkish province of Sivas before his party came to power although the university in the province was established in 1974, according to Turkish media reports.

Speaking at an election rally in Sivas on Friday for the upcoming local elections, Erdoğan said: “We established the Science and Technology University in Sivas. Was there a university in Sivas before us? No. A university came to Sivas with us.”

Erdoğan’s remarks attracted criticism from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Engin Altay, who tweeted that the university in Sivas was established in 1974 by the CHP government of the time.

Altay said the Bülent Ecevit University in Zonguldak, the Süleyman Demirel University in Isparta, the Adnan Menderes Airport in İzmir and the Cumhuriyet University in Sivas were all established by former CHP governments, not by the AKP as claimed by Erdoğan on other occasions as well.