Critical article in bill: Citizens’ homes will be seized

The bill presented by AKP deputies to the Turkish Grand National Assembly under the name of accelerating urban transformation included the confiscation of homes and workplaces where citizens live. With the regulation, properties in high-rent areas of cities can be declared “reserve construction zones” and seized from their rightful owners. Under the proposed law, a citizen’s home can be taken by methods such as purchase for payment, barter, use of preemption authority, transfer of zoning or property rights to another location.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Places declared as building reserve zones will be evacuated and new buildings will be built in their place. Those who have homes or businesses in this area can be sent to other parts of the city. By declaring a reserve area, converting homes and workplaces into state property even if they do not pose a risk of earthquake or natural disaster is unconstitutional, as it would violate individual property rights.
is being evaluated.

The reserve buildable areas were areas intended for the settlement of beneficiaries in places declared as risk buildings. Citizens whose homes or workplaces were transformed would move to properties that would be built in these areas partially outside the city. Areas with solid buildings can now be declared construction reserve areas and structures within them can be demolished.

In the bill’s justification, this critical regulation was defended as follows:

* “In the cases presented in practice, it is considered that for any property to be declared a reserve structure, it must be located outside the residential area.

*However, it is possible that parcels located in residential areas may be considered reserve structures.”

GIVES AUTHORITY TO THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND URBANIZATION

In the regulation, the reserve construction area is defined as “the areas determined ex officio by the ministry, at the request of TOKİ or the administration, to be used as a ‘new settlement area’ in the applications to be carried carried out in accordance with the urban transformation law.”

In the new proposed law, the phrase “as a new settlement area” is eliminated from this definition. The amendment authorizes the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to declare each land, building or parcel as a construction reserve area and, in a sense, confiscate it.