[3][4] President Erdoğan proposed to call the new presidential residence Cumhurbaşkanlığı Külliyesi, referring to a traditional complex centered on a mosque.

[9] The Council of Ministers decided that the Gazi compound should be turned into an "Urban Transformation and Development Project Area" for the purpose of constructing a Prime Ministry Building in 2012.

[18] Finance minister Mehmet Şimşek, quoted by Turkey's Hürriyet newspaper, said the construction cost of the palace would be 1.37bn ₺ ($615m), most of which had already been spent, but another $135m had been budgeted for it in 2015.

Tezcan Candan, head of the Turkish Chamber of Architects' Ankara branch, said the final cost could be over 5 billion lira.

Opposition parties have ramped up their objection to Turkey's presidential palace, set to cost more than half a billion US dollars.

[22] The complex was pejoratively called Ak Saray (meaning "White Palace") as a reference to Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Due to its construction being barred by the courts yet continuing regardless and alleged corruption, it is regularly referred to by some opposition politicians and supporters as the Kaçak Saray (meaning "Illegal Palace").

According to a statement released by the Ankara branch of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), Bizassa marble imported from Italy will be used to decorate pools, bathhouses, saunas, and spas within the palace.

The presidential palace had a natural gas bill of TL 2.4 million between October 2014 and May 2015, according to records released to the public.

Inspired by Seljuk architecture, the Presidential Complex has guesthouses, a botanical garden, a situation room with satellite and military communications systems, bunkers able to withstand biological, nuclear and chemical weapons attack, a park and a congress center.

[38][39] Located in the Presidential Complex, the mosque was opened to worship on July 3, 2015, with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

[44] The Presidential Library, which has the largest incipient collection in the world, was officially inaugurated by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on February 20, 2020.

The monument opposite the complex was built by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to symbolize the July 15 Military Coup attempt.

[52][53][54][55] The Presidential Palace complex is said to contain a top secret special operations command and control center housed in a secure bunker.

[56][3] The Gendarmerie, Disasters and Emergencies Management Directorate, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), Turkish Armed Forces and MIT can provide live feeds to the Presidential Command Center.

[57][3] All data is archived in two special supercomputer servers to enable intelligence agencies to track back the paths of suspects.