Şadi Yazıcı responds to zoning allegations in Tuzla: 'A political smear campaign is being conducted'

Former Tuzla Mayor Şadi Yazıcı has responded with a written statement to the zoning allegations that surfaced following Tuzla Mayor Eren Ali Bingöl's decision to join the AK Party. Yazıcı argued that the accusations directed at the previous Tuzla Municipality administration do not reflect the truth and characterized the process as a "political smear campaign."

The controversy escalated following Eren Ali Bingöl's transition to the AK Party, with statements from Özgür Özel and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan. While Özel raised allegations of threats regarding Bingöl's process of joining the AK Party, Nuri Aslan claimed that irregularities had been detected in the zoning procedures of the previous Tuzla Municipality administration and that the matter had been reported to judicial authorities.

YAZICI: THE ALLEGATIONS CENTER ON FLOOR AREA RATIO TRANSFERS

In his statement, Yazıcı noted that the allegations are constructed around the floor area ratio (FAR) transfer practice implemented in Tuzla. Stating that the process accelerated after Bingöl's participation in the AK Party, Yazıcı claimed that the statements made were not independent of one another.

The former mayor emphasized that the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is the highest local administrative authority overseeing the zoning practices of district municipalities. Reminding that the IMM has been governed by the CHP since 2019, Yazıcı asked why, if there were irregularities on the alleged scale, they had not been brought to the agenda earlier.

According to Yazıcı, the legal basis for the FAR transfer practice in Tuzla is the planning notes passed by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council in 2016. Yazıcı argued that this practice resolved citizens' property issues, paved the way for urban transformation, and brought areas such as parks, schools, roads, mosques, and health facilities into the municipality's possession.

Explaining the practice with an example, Yazıcı stated that owners of a parcel remaining in a school area in the zoning plan could not exercise their construction rights; by transferring this right to another area, the parcel in question could be converted to public use. For this reason, he stated that the transactions were not "imaginary" but rather real estate and zoning rights applications based on planning decisions.

Yazıcı announced that as a result of the FAR transfers, approximately 380 thousand square meters of gross public space were transferred to the ownership of Tuzla Municipality. Stating that the total construction area in the 902 parcels subject to FAR transfer is approximately 400 thousand square meters, Yazıcı noted that these constructions were carried out by the rights holders and used by other rights holders.

Arguing that no money left the municipal budget and that no municipal real estate was given to citizens, Yazıcı said that the transactions took place between rights holders, and in return, hundreds of thousands of square meters of space were gained for the public.

Yazıcı claimed that the allegations of "520 thousand square meters of extra and imaginary FAR transfers" and "40 billion in corruption" have no connection to reality. Stating that the allegations do not align with technical facts or basic mathematics, Yazıcı argued that the statements were targeting the previous Tuzla Municipality administration.