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Energy minister drives a cab to get a sense of public mood

A News TÜRKIYE
Published June 07,2018
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Imagine you wave for a cab and as you enter, you realize a minister is your driver and he's taking you wherever you need to go for free.

This is what happened in Istanbul, when Energy Minister Berat Albayrak hopped in the driver's seat of a cab for the last episode of Turkish boradcaster AHaber's show called, "Seçim Taksi" (Election Taxi), aired on Tuesday.


The show looks to find out what the public thinks about the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The first client the minister picked up was a woman named Nergis. She was surprised when she saw the energy minister, but she said she recognized him right away.

"Of course I recognized him, I read newspapers and I follow the news," Nergis said when she was asked if she recognized him.

Right away, Nergis wanted to make a comment about the government on a topic she said has bothered her for a while.

"I am a retired person, they say they deduct a certain percentage from my pensions and they give it to Syrian refugees," she said.

Albayrak explained to her how this was not true for any of the retired or other workers in the country. Nergis said she got that information from her friend, who was told by someone else.

The minister said that these were part of the perception management attempts and had nothing to do with the actual truth.

Nergis expressed her happiness that she met Albayrak and voiced her appreciation for what the government has done for the country.

Shortly before she got off at her destination, she said it was hard to believe that the country's energy minister was her driver.

"My son won't believe me, he'll tell me 'mom you were probably dreaming' but I took a selfie as proof," she said.

After Nergis, an acting student jumped in. Albayrak and the student conversed about the importance of the June 24 elections, economy and the investments made in arts in the recent years.

The minister listened to both clients carefully and patiently, listened to their concerns and explained his views on the topics.

Sports minister joins kids for a street soccer match

Meanwhile, Sports and Youth Minister Osman Aşkın Bak was in his hometown Rize in northern Turkey on Tuesday to meet voters ahead fo the elections.

When Bak was walking around and greeting citizens, he saw a street soccer match and joined the local kids for a couple of kicks.

The footage showing Bak doing a "rabona" kick quickly went viral on social media, with Bak himself sharing a photo of himself and Beşiktaş's Portuguese midfielder Ricardo Quaresma doing the kick with the comment "the historical development of rabona."

CHP's Ince displays talent in local Zeybek dance

Muharrem Ince, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for June 24 elections, was in western province of Aydın for an election rally on Tuesday.

In the end of the rally, Ince was joined by Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu and dancers in traditional clothing to perform the local Zeybek dance, which is among the trademarks of the Aegean region.

Ince's performance was widely praised by Turkish media users.

One of his earlier performances in local dances at a meeting in Selendi district of western Kütahya province in 2013 had went viral when Ince was nominated for candidacy on May 4.