Land sold to Egyptians! They mistook IYI Party's Çömez for an AKP member and explained everything...

Turhan Çömez, IYI Party Balıkesir MP and mayoral candidate, was mistaken for an AKP official by locals during a visit to the Dereören and Eymür neighborhoods in Balıkesir's Havran district, where he was briefed on land sales. 

WHO WAS THE LAND SOLD TO?

According to a report by Ece Aydın from Sözcü, 200 dönums of pasture land in the Dereören and Eymür neighborhoods of Balıkesir's Havran district were sold by municipal council decision following the 2019 local elections. Çömez submitted a parliamentary question to learn the details of the sale and began investigating the land.

During his visit, Çömez was met by a guard who did not speak Turkish; by speaking Arabic with the guard, he learned that the buyers of the land were Egyptian. The guard, assuming Çömez was an AKP deputy, expressed gratitude toward President Erdoğan and the AKP for enabling their purchase of the land.

TO OBTAIN CITIZENSHIP...

A person he spoke with over the phone stated that the Egyptian buyer, Emir Ali, was in Istanbul and planned to engage in livestock farming there. This individual said that they would vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP, which he leads, in order to purchase land and obtain citizenship.

"WE WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE"

Following the phone conversation, Çömez reacted to the events, stating: "This land at the foothills of the Kaz Mountains has been handed over to Egyptians. Damn those who hand over these lands in this geography, where the spirit of the Kuvayi Milliye blossomed, to others. While the villagers are weeping and the areas where they graze their animals are being sold to Arabs, the Arabs are praying for Tayyip Erdoğan, saying 'May God be pleased with him.' We are laughing at our own misery. We will hold them accountable for every single one of these actions."

HOW WERE VILLAGE PASTURES AND LANDS TRANSFERRED TO THE TREASURY?

On March 30, 2014, the AKP government expanded the borders of metropolitan municipalities in Turkey to match provincial administrative borders through Law No. 6360. With this change, the legal entities of villages within metropolitan borders were terminated and converted into neighborhoods. This situation posed a major threat to the property rights of citizens living in villages.

With this legal regulation, pasture lands belonging to villages were transferred to municipalities and the treasury, and subsequently, these lands began to be sold for next to nothing. This process dealt a severe blow to agriculture and livestock farming. With the decline in production, Turkey became more dependent on imports.

News Source: 12punto