The Turkish government is currently seizing properties in the earthquake-ravaged Samandağ district of Hatay province to incorporate into a reserve zone, following a similar land grab in Antakya and Defne districts. According to a directive issued for various districts in September, the ownership of certain plots has been transferred to the Treasury.
A number of properties in Hatay’s Samandağ District, have been reclassified as construction zones and officially handed over to the Treasury in August this year. According to the memo released by the government, a 1.60-hectare (3.9 acres) area in Atatürk District has now officially been rezoned as a reserve construction area; meaning that the prior owners of the properties effectively lose their rights over their real-estate holdings, damaged in the earthquake or not.
Samandağ residents only received text messages months after the fact, breaking the news that their properties were handed over to the Treasury. This bombshell dropped four months after properties had already been earmarked for new development. Hatay residents are fuming over their homes and businesses being seized and notified only by a text message with no legal proceedings involved.
Timur Ranjous, a Hatay pharmacist who lost his pharmacy in the earthquake, shared the message on December 10 via his X account.
Similar messages were delivered to other residents of Samandağ as well, causing a frenzy on social media, echoing the concerns expressed by Antakya residents.
“The rezoned reserve construction area in Samandağ is the most valuable real estate.”
Yusuf Aslan, Editor-in-Chief of Samandağ Cemre Newspaper stated that the rezoned area constitutes some of the highest real estate value in Samandağ. He asserted that the damage done to the buildings in the reserve area was mild compared to other districts in the province, saying: ‘The rezoned reserve construction area in Samandağ is the most valuable real estate, dominated by commercial real estate. The per-square-meter price of homes and businesses in this area is consistently higher compared to other parts of Samandağ.’
Ecevit Alkan, Chair of the Environmental and Urban Law Commission at Hatay Bar Association, expressed doubt about the reassurances given by Vedad Gürgen, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change. Alkan stated that the Deputy Minister’s promise of not leaving anyone out in the cold does not ease the worries of the local community. Alkan argues that many have already been victimized by the government’s unilateral policy who have not yet formally filed lawsuits.
Alkan: The law does not explicitly state you can live in your homes until you die.
Alkan also stressed the rights of Hatay residents over their properties, which according to the ministry, are valid until the property owners’ death and that the properties in question cannot be passed on to the next of kin through inheritance.
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“While politicians can certainly express their own aspirations, promises are being made that are not outlined in the law. The law does not explicitly state you can live in your homes until you die. Will a child who lost his parents be entitled to the house? Can he rent out the house left by his family? All these questions remain unanswered.”
As the one-year anniversary of the earthquake fast approaches, Alkan also reminded that the residents of Hatay are still stuck living in tents and containers and added his misgivings that the government lacks the courage to communicate the realities of the situation to the local community, and that things still remain dire in Hatay, where progress on public housing developments is slow going:
“People are dodging the truth, avoiding it like the plague. They’re not ready to accept the idea that they won’t be handed houses; they’re holding on to hope. Unfortunately, those houses won’t be handed out by the end of the year.”
In an unprecedented move, the government has reclassified extensive portions of Hatay, Turkey’s earthquake-ravaged province, transforming residential areas into reserve zones, placing a minimum of 50,000 people in Antakya and Defne districts at the risk of property loss.
A 207-hectare (approx. 0.8 sq. mile) area in Hatay’s Antakya and Defne districts is now designated as a reserve construction zone. This development is monumental for Hatay residents, exposing around 50,000 individuals to the potential loss of their properties, according to the Hatay Bar Association. The term “reserve zoning” denotes a unique rezoning and development initiative, raising concerns from the President of the Hatay Bar Association, who warns of potential debt or complete land loss for the former residents of the area.
The Urban Transformation Directorate, under the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change, announced on November 14th that eight neighborhoods spanning 207 hectares in Hatay’s Antakya and Defne districts are now a reserve construction zone, affecting 50,000 people, as reported by the Hatay Bar Association.
Hüseyin Cihat Açıkalın, President of the Hatay Bar Association, clarified the concept of “reserve zones,” noting that the concept was already present in previous legislation. However, an act passed on November 9th of this year modified the existing legal framework, enabling the rezoning of previously settled areas under central government initiatives.”
Story by Berna Büyükbayrak
Written/translated for Medyascope by Murat Türsan
