Özhaseki reacts to İmamoğlu: He should mind his own business

The legislative proposal containing regulations for urban transformation has passed through parliament and become law. The articles in the regulation regarding "reserve building areas" have brought about criticism on the grounds of "violation of property rights."

The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) Chamber of City Planners interpreted the law as a "dispossession plan," and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki made a statement regarding the law during a broadcast he attended on CNN Türk.

Minister Özhaseki said, "No one's property rights will be harmed," regarding the law that has sparked debate and is criticized as a dispossession project.

50+1 PERCENT REQUIREMENT

Highlights from Minister Özhaseki's statements are as follows:

"What would the ministry do by seizing people's homes? A faction in Turkey looks at the event from an ideological framework and insists on saying things that are false and wrong just for the sake of opposition. We have no designs on anyone's property. We want to use areas within the ones we currently use as reserve areas if they exist. The places we declare as reserve areas are empty and public lands. If there is public land, we want to declare it a reserve area. If you have taken a core sample anywhere and confirmed that it is not earthquake-resistant, and if you say let's manage this place, and more than 50 percent of the citizens want it, you start the work. A 50+1 percent requirement has been introduced. If more than half say change the residences, it has its own specific procedure, and that process will continue.

REACTION TO EKREM İMAMOĞLU

İmamoğlu should mind his own business; am I going to ask them how I should carry out urban transformation? The Urban Transformation Law has two main lines. There is the municipal law, and there has been no change to it. There are facilitating articles; let them start as soon as possible. Not even a single point of restrictive law has been introduced. You can make decisions with 50+1, which is valid for all of Turkey. At the licensing stage, power of attorney from everyone was required; now it is given with 50+1. Someone transfers their small share to someone living in Kenya. Because notification could not be served to a 0.5 ownership, construction could not take place. If the İBB wants to start urban transformation on one side, if there is an obstacle in front of them, let them come, and I will stand by them."