The mayor of Ankara, Turkey, has a robot problem. A giant robot problem.

Melih Gökçek, who's been mayor of the country's capital city since 1994, is facing criticism after unveiling a 20-foot statue of a robot intended to promote a new theme park.

While some view the project -- whatever you do, don't call it a Transformer -- as an enormous waste of taxpayer money, The Independent reports Turkey's Chamber of Architects and Engineers has gone so far as to file a lawsuit, calling the statue a "monstrosity."

Confronted with the backlash in local media, Gökçek reportedly responded, "Respect the robot." Hey, that sounds eerily familiar ...

Twenty similar robots are planned for the theme park, suggesting the possibility that Gökçek is building his own automaton army.