Turkish President Erdogan unveils new palace in Ankara amid considerable controversy
Critics say complex is environmental blight and evidence of new president's autocratic leanings
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unveiled a new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara that has been denounced as an environmental blight and evidence of his autocratic tendencies.
Erdogan on Wednesday hosted his first official event at the new palace, a ceremony congratulating dignitaries on Republic Day, marking the foundation of modern Turkey in 1923.
The complex, located in the Bestepe - Five Hills - area, has become known as the Ak Saray, or White Palace.
The immense project - built at a reported cost of US$350 million - has an area of 200,000 square metres, 1,000 rooms and architecture that is supposed to marry modernism and the traditions of the medieval Seljuk dynasty.
However, Erdogan cancelled an evening reception at the palace because of a mining disaster in the southern province of Karaman that left 18 miners trapped.
Cankaya has been the seat of the Turkish president since the modern republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, became president and for many has been a symbol of Turkey's modern history as a progressive secular state.