AKP reaches a historic peak in sales: Breaks 23-year record
Since the AKP came to power in 2002, Turkey has entered a period of large-scale privatization. Public real estate sales, which have accelerated especially in recent years, reached a historic peak in the first six months of 2025.
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Public assets, which were built with great effort since the early years of the Republic, have been rapidly privatized and disposed of during the AKP era. The revenue generated from the sale of public real estate has become a striking indicator of the AKP's policy regarding state-owned assets. The year 2025 has been recorded as the year in which the sharpest steps of this process were taken.
The sale of state-owned real estate continues unabated under the AKP government. While the revenue generated in the first half of 2025 broke the record of the last 23 years, numerous lands and buildings belonging to state institutions were disposed of. The sales list includes many critical public institutions, from the General Directorate of Highways to Sugar Factories.
LARGE-SCALE PRIVATIZATION PERIOD
Since the AKP came to power in 2002, Turkey has entered a period of large-scale privatization. Public real estate sales, which have accelerated especially in recent years, reached a historic peak in the first six months of 2025. Between January 1 and June 30, 2025, the revenue the state generated from real estate sales reached exactly 8 billion 422 million 630 thousand TL.
This amount was recorded as the highest figure for the first 6-month period among all years between 2002 and 2025. Thus, 2025 became one of the periods when public assets changed hands the fastest.
SURPASSED PREVIOUS YEARS
When the revenue generated in the first half of 2025 is compared with previous years, a remarkable increase is observed. Here are the revenues generated from public real estate sales by some years:
2002: 12 million TL
2007: 1 billion 137 million TL
2012: 564 million TL
2017: 343 million TL
2022: 7 billion 597 million TL
2023: 3 billion 914 million TL
2024: 4 billion 97 million TL
Throughout the time the AKP has remained in power, the sale of public real estate has increased by gaining momentum.
According to Mustafa Bildircin from BirGün, the public real estate sold in the first 6 months of 2025 also includes lands of strategic importance belonging to various public institutions. Some of the sold properties are as follows:
A property in Ağrı belonging to the Turkish Sugar Factories
A valuable land in Aydın Kuşadası belonging to the Treasury
Two lands in Istanbul Şile owned by the Treasury
Two properties in Ankara Yenimahalle belonging to the General Directorate of Highways
With these sales, public institutions have once again been reduced to the position of tenants, while strategic areas in the hands of the public have passed into private ownership.