175 rooms at the hotel owned by Bilal Erdoğan's business partner Mehmet Gür are reportedly illegal

It has emerged that 175 rooms of the hotel, built by a pro-government company that encroached on a nature park in Alanya based on a 2011 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) permit, were constructed without authorization.

A 'Public Participation Meeting' will be held on April 18 in Avsallar, Alanya, as part of a retroactive process contrary to the EIA Regulation, aimed at legitimizing the unauthorized sections of the hotel owned by Mehmet Gür, who also made headlines for establishing a joint company with Bilal Erdoğan.

The unauthorized capacity increase at the hotel, where construction began before zoning plans were approved, was presented to the Ministry by preparing a project file as if it were a new construction. According to the project file deemed appropriate by the Ministry, construction was carried out on a 2,600-square-meter area without obtaining permits.

TRANSFORMED FROM A CAMP TO A CONSERVATIVE HOTEL

According to the report published on Haber.sol.org.tr by Yusuf Yavuz, the İncekum Recreation Area, which was used by the Ministry of Forestry as an in-service training camp in the past, was leased in 2004 as a camping area to a private company called Avrasya Turizm, owned by an entrepreneur named Ali Filiz.

The company gained the right to operate the beach within the forest, which included a restaurant, cafe, buffet, disco, and accommodation units, along with gate entrance revenue, for an annual rent of 600 thousand lira. When the company that won the tender rolled up its sleeves to demolish the existing structures and build new ones, a problem arose. None of the structures in the area under the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs had occupancy or building usage permits. Consequently, the operating company and the Ministry ended up in court.

DECLARED A NATURE PARK

Meanwhile, the İncekum Recreation Area, located on plot 520/1 in Avsallar Neighborhood, was declared a 'Nature Park' by the then-Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs in 2006. The fact that construction, which was not permitted under the recreation area status, could be carried out more easily under the nature park status led to the status of many other recreation areas being changed in later periods.

THE GÜR FAMILY BECAME THE OWNER OF THE LAND FOR 49 YEARS

While the legal process between the Ministry and the firm was ongoing, the lease agreement was extended for another 8 years on July 6, 2011. The contractor firm, which operated the Nature Park for about 4 months but could not pay its rent debts to the institution, allegedly reached the point of bankruptcy, and at that point, the Gür family, known for their closeness to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stepped in. The 49-year usufruct right of the İncekum Nature Park, which was transferred to the Ortadoğu Group company owned by Güneysu-born Mehmet Gür on December 19, 2011, also passed to this company. Thus, 104 thousand square meters of the nature park, which has a total area of 271 thousand square meters, was given to the use of the Gür family.

NOT EVEN MINISTRY APPROVAL WAS WAITED FOR

Mehmet Gür, the new tenant of the nature park reserved for public use, wanted to build a 5-star conservative hotel there. The EIA permit granted by the Antalya Governor's Office for the project prepared by the previous company to build a hotel was also transferred to Gür's company in 2012. Subsequently, while the zoning plan of the area was being changed, the existing structures in the area were demolished without even waiting for the plan change to be approved by the Ministry. During the construction work, a large number of pine trees were cut down in the forested area. During the construction work, a 2,000-year-old olive oil workshop from ancient times was discovered, but the emergence of archaeological remains in the area could not stop the construction work.

ISLAMIC ELITE SHOW INTENSE INTEREST

Although the then-Ministry of Environment and Urbanization approved the zoning plans on April 30, 2015, the 5-star luxury Islamic hotel named 'Wome Deluxe', built on an area of approximately 100 thousand square meters by Mehmet Gür, went into service in July 2015. Among the regular customers of the hotel, which attracts intense interest from the Islamic elite, was Yeni Şafak writer Serdar Tuncer, known for his programs on TRT and his praise for cult sheikhs.

175 ROOMS OF THE HOTEL TURNED OUT TO BE UNAUTHORIZED

However, it was revealed that 175 rooms of the luxury hotel, which Mehmet Gür's company—known for its partnership with Bilal Erdoğan as well as Erdoğan's brother-in-law Ziya İlgen and brother Mustafa Erdoğan, and who was seen to have a 2 million lira debt in the asset declaration submitted by President Erdoğan to the YSK in 2018—has been operating in İncekum for 9 years, were unauthorized.

EIA MEETING TO BE HELD ON APRIL 18

Mehmet Gür's company, which operates the hotel, applied for an EIA by having a project file prepared by a private consulting firm based in Antalya within the scope of the relevant regulation to correct this retroactive scandal. The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, which accepted the project file, announced in a notice published on March 25, 2024, that a public participation (EIA) meeting regarding the capacity increase project of the hotel in question would be held on April 18, 2024.

UNAUTHORIZED SECTIONS WILL BE PRESENTED AS IF THEY ARE NEWLY BUILT

At the EIA meeting, which aims to inform the public about the project, a presentation is expected to be made about the relevant sections of the hotel, which were actually built without authorization and contrary to the EIA regulation and have been operating for 9 years. This practice, which will go down in history as a scandal in terms of EIA regulation and tourism management, is also an indicator of how laws and regulations in Turkey are arbitrarily bypassed.

600 ROOMS BUILT WHILE THERE WAS PERMISSION FOR 425 ROOMS

Based on the 'EIA Not Required' decision granted to the firm that previously leased the area for the purpose of building a hotel in İncekum Nature Park, located within the borders of Alanya's Avsallar Neighborhood, a hotel with a capacity of 600 rooms was built in the area. With the transfer of the 'EIA Not Required' decision given in December 2011 to Mehmet Gür's company in 2012, the hotel project was first changed, and the project with a capacity of 425 rooms was increased to a capacity of 600 rooms with the inclusion of unauthorized additional rooms and staff quarters. It is stated that a total of 2,600 square meters of area was built without authorization.

MINISTRY GRANTED OPERATING PERMIT FOR 535 ROOMS

A retroactive EIA meeting will be held in Avsallar on April 18 to save the hotel, which has been operating with rooms built without permission since 2015, from being 'illegal'. In the application file prepared for the project, where the public participation meeting, which is mandatory under the EIA regulation, is expected to turn into a kind of EIA theater, it is stated that the hotel in question is currently operating with a capacity of 600 rooms and 1300 beds. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, on the other hand, granted a Tourism Operation Certificate for 535 rooms and 1092 beds for the hotel in question in 2018.

CONTINUE OPERATIONS AS LONG AS TOURISM CONTINUES IN OUR COUNTRY

In the EIA application file, where it is noted that a capacity increase of 175 rooms was made in the capacity increase project in question, it is stated that there is no construction phase related to the project, and the following statements were included: “In recent years, the construction market in the region has shown significant growth and has provided new employment opportunities for the young population. The incentive law enacted in the second half of 1980 had a significant impact on Turkey reaching its current point in the field of tourism and accommodation. With the incentive law, public lands were allocated to investors for the purpose of establishing tourist facilities on them. The enactment of the law led entrepreneurs from many sectors, especially construction and textiles, to turn to tourism. It is planned to continue the activity in question as long as the tourism economy and activities continue in our country.”

"THE CHOSEN AREA WAS ATTRACTIVE"

In the EIA application file, where it is admitted that the 175-room capacity increase in the hotel in question was made without the necessary permit procedures within the scope of the EIA Regulation, the following justifications are given regarding the site selection: “The area subject to the EIA Application file is a Tourism Center and there are many accommodation facilities around it. Because the facility in question is close to the sea and the center, it is in a region where infrastructure services can be utilized, and it is already established, the chosen area was attractive, and therefore no alternative area could be considered for the project.”

MEHMET GÜR ESTABLISHED A JOINT COMPANY WITH BİLAL ERDOĞAN

Mehmet Gür, who is from the Güneysu district of Rize, the hometown of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, established a joint company with Bilal Erdoğan, Mustafa Erdoğan, and Ziya İlgen in 2014. Among the shareholders of the company named Ortadoğu Proje Geliştirme İnşaat Sanayi were BMZ Denizcilik, founded by Bilal Erdoğan, Mustafa Erdoğan, and brother-in-law Ziya İlgen, and Ortadoğu Nakliyat, which is Mehmet Gür's company.

ERDOĞAN HAS A 2 MILLION LIRA DEBT TO MEHMET GÜR

Mehmet Gür's name also came to the agenda in 2018 with President Erdoğan's 2 million lira debt. In the list of the YSK, which announced the assets declared by President Erdoğan, it was noted that Erdoğan's 2 million lira debt to Mehmet Gür was also recorded.