İlayda Kaya
The AKP government did not give up looting and rent-seeking policies this year either. Cities’ last remaining forested areas, military zones and parks were opened up to concrete one by one. Mega looting projects continued under the name of “urban transformation” through the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change.
The Disaster Law became a tool for creating new rent areas for capital under the pretext of earthquake preparedness. While earthquake assembly areas were seized, high-rise and unsafe buildings rose rapidly. The winners of this order were once again companies close to the government.
Despite the warnings of scientists and experts, the government pursued not the public interest but its own. Citizens launched legal struggles against this plunder and raised their voices by taking to the squares.
SELLING HOPE
As the economic crisis deepened in Turkey, the annual increase in listing prices for housing exceeded 100% this year and home ownership became almost impossible for broad sections of society. Unable to find a solution, citizens were forced to turn to the projects of the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ).
TOKİ projects, which were established to meet the need for quality housing for low-income citizens and are frequently used by the government in election promises, either were not delivered or came to the agenda with serious shortcomings.
Most recently, Minister Murat Kurum made statements about TOKİ’s 500,000 social housing project, promoted as the “housing project of the century”. Applications opened on 10 November and the number of applications exceeded 5 million. While the government presented this as a success, the figures actually revealed the poverty citizens have been pushed into.
HATAY AS THE STAGE: DISASTER VICTIMS WERE IGNORED
Even though three years have passed since the Maraş-centred earthquakes, the region’s most basic problem, shelter, still has not been solved. President Erdoğan’s promise to “deliver 650,000 homes within 1 year” was not fulfilled. Instead of producing solutions, the government chose to share housing tenders worth billions of lira with contractors close to it. With changes to the Urban Transformation Law, neighbourhoods were declared reserve areas, citizens’ titled land was seized, fruit and olive trees were uprooted and citizens who resisted were detained. No projects were implemented in citizens’ favour and those seeking their rights faced police intervention. At the end of the year in Hatay, before President Erdoğan’s visit, the city was prepared like a film set: tarpaulins were hung in front of unfinished buildings, the route was redesigned from top to bottom and the show went ahead despite public objections.
MINISTER OF RENT
Across the country, urban transformation and mass housing projects run through TOKİ became a tool to protect rent and contractors’ interests rather than meeting the public’s housing needs.
Promises by the President and the government of “delivery in a short time” proved completely empty; many homes were not delivered on time and flimsy, unhealthy buildings threatened public safety. Environment Minister Murat Kurum avoided responsibility, forgetting the housing promises made to citizens. Instead of meeting public needs, TOKİ projects were used as a source of rent for higher-income groups and profit for contractors, the housing crisis deepened nationwide and the right to safe housing was completely ignored. In some cities, the following happened in TOKİ projects:
•İZMİR: TOKİ homes in the Efes Selçuk district, for which the ground survey was completed in 2018 and the tender was held on 1 October 2020, were still not delivered this year despite it being said they would be handed over “within 555 working days”.
•ERZURUM: The Gezköy TOKİ Homes in the Aziziye district of Erzurum, whose construction began in 2020, were delivered a year after the promised date. After citizens moved in, new problems were added every day in the Gezköy TOKİ Homes with 1,013 households. Basements were flooded, lifts did not work, walls crumbled and even sensors were not installed. Citizens reacted to the rot in the housing.
OPEN BETRAYAL OF THE MEGACITY
All over İstanbul, the government’s looting projects continued this year too. While scientists’ earthquake warnings were ignored, the city’s vital assembly areas were opened to rent and citizens’ living spaces were directly targeted.
While no strengthening or public measures were taken in the districts with the highest earthquake risk, concreting was effectively encouraged in areas with high rent returns. Kanal İstanbul, symbolised by Erdoğan’s words “We’ll do it regardless”, continued to be imposed in 2025 despite all scientific and social objections. Despite court processes and public reaction, the Ministry of Environment put new zoning plans into effect for the project area. Agricultural land along the canal route and the Sazlıdere Water Basin, which provides drinking water for around 750,000 people in İstanbul, were opened to construction in an irreversible way. While a vast 2.5 million square metre agricultural area right next to the Sazlıbosna Dam was handed over to concrete projects, the construction of thousands of homes started in practice. Nor did it stop there. In 2025, advertising campaigns were run for land along the Kanal İstanbul route and in sales listings the project was marketed as an “investment opportunity”, openly ignoring environmental destruction and the water crisis. Some of the accelerated looting projects in İstanbul districts were as follows:
•Arnavutköy: Construction accelerated in Arnavutköy, which lies on the Kanal İstanbul route. In Sazlıbosna, Hacımaşlı and the surrounding area, tenders were held in stages by TOKİ for more than 5,000 homes, and in the medium term new settlement plans for 20,000–24,000 homes were put into effect. Arnavutköy became, in practice, the centre of housing and rent projects serving Kanal İstanbul even before the canal itself began.
•Şişli: A 72-storey residence project became a public issue; the construction site was on a parcel long discussed as an earthquake assembly area. In the same area, the Taş Yapı company carrying out the construction put up huge banners and billboards around the site. The use of geoscientist Prof. Dr Naci Görür’s photo on these boards alongside slogans about İstanbul’s earthquake risks and “earthquake-resilient cities” drew strong criticism.
•Kadıköy: Fikirtepe stood out as one of İstanbul’s most controversial urban transformation sites. The area, where TOKİ blocks that Kurum had promised years ago would be delivered were rising, remained on the public agenda due to years of disputes and contractor-related delays. Work this year was carried out mostly in limited stages aimed at resolving the grievances of existing right holders, and large-scale transformation projects were not completed. Residents said the transformation was largely advancing as the production of luxury housing for higher-income groups and that current residents were being forced to relocate, and they reacted.
MILITARY LAND HANDED OUT
Under AKP rule, most military areas in İstanbul were opened to zoning, creating a huge rent zone in the megacity. In 2006, there were 171,998 hectares of military land and 111,307 hectares of military security zones in İstanbul. By this year, 41% of the total 283,305 hectares was removed from military status. Of the 116,155 hectares whose status changed, 90% was opened to zoning. These strategic and green areas, initially set aside for the public good, were looted for contractors’ interests and the public’s right to housing and life was completely ignored. In 2025 too, the process continued without slowing down, military land was filled with concrete and luxury projects and the public interest was completely disregarded.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled ‘Kurum’sallaşan talan, published in BirGün newspaper on December 31, 2025.
