Illegal complex built by İsmailağa on agricultural land in Bursa

It has been revealed that the İsmailağa Community has constructed a massive complex under the name “Mahmud Efendi Külliyesi” (Mahmud Efendi Complex) in the Çeltik neighborhood of the Osmangazi district.

According to the report by İsmail Arı from BirGün; the complex consists of four buildings, each six stories high. It is stated that the complex, which was built illegally on 11 thousand square meters of agricultural land, will house an Arabic madrasa, a Quran memorization school, and a preschool madrasa. The construction, carried out by the Soğanlı İkizler Fatih Service Foundation affiliated with İsmailağa, is being overlooked by the AKP-run Osmangazi Municipality.

"UNACCEPTABLE"

“It is unacceptable that the municipality, which tears down the shanties where ordinary citizens live when the time comes, ignores an illegal structure of approximately 35 thousand square meters when it comes to religious communities,” said CHP Municipal Council Member Sefa Yılmaz, adding:

"WE ALL KNOW THE NEWS ABOUT CHILD ABUSE"

“The illegal construction by the İsmailağa Community was also brought up at the Osmangazi Municipal Council meeting. At the meeting, the AKP Mayor Mustafa Dündar admitted that the construction was illegal. He tried to brush the issue aside by saying, ‘We are keeping records, it is difficult to fight against illegal construction.’ However, these are not typical illegal buildings. One would not normally turn a blind eye to six-story illegal buildings consisting of four blocks. The fact that activities will be carried out under the name of a madrasa in these illegal buildings in the 100th year of our Republic is diametrically opposed to the gains of our Republic. Religious education should be provided by the state and under state supervision, not in illegal buildings through religious communities.

We all know the news about fires in illegal Quran courses, the children who died as a result of these fires, and child abuse in unsupervised Quran courses.”

"IT IS A LEGAL OBLIGATION"

Calling on the AKP-run Osmangazi Municipality to take action regarding the illegal construction, Yılmaz concluded his words as follows:

“We invite the Osmangazi Municipality to perform its duty to take legal action regarding the illegal buildings in question. It is a legal obligation for the municipality, which did not take any action until a large part of the construction was finished, to issue the necessary building inspection and suspension reports for these illegal structures built on agricultural land, for the municipal council to impose zoning fines and issue a demolition order, and subsequently to demolish these illegal structures.”