Grievances at 'Ödül İstanbul' complex remain unresolved for 14 years

Citizens who were victimized by Özyurtlar Holding, which turned the Republic of Turkey (T.C.) acronym into a construction slogan in 2022, held a protest in front of the company's headquarters.

Two years ago, Özyurtlar Holding announced its new housing project with the slogan "T.C. Think Capital." The project visual, placed over a 100-dollar bill, featured images of a Republic of Turkey (T.C.) passport and a title deed.

According to the report in Birgün, victims of the 2,560-unit Ukra City project—which was put up for sale by Ukra İnşaat in 2010 in Esenyurt, Istanbul, and saw construction halt in December 2012 due to the company's bankruptcy postponement request—held a protest, stating that they have now been victimized by the Özyurtlar firm, which took over the project. Citizens who met in front of Özyurtlar Holding carried banners and signs reading, "We are victims of Özyurtlar İnşaat," "Özyurtlar İnşaat took my money and didn't give me my home," "Özyurtlar İnşaat is a regret," "keep your promise," and "Let them receive a punishment, not a prize."

"HEAR OUR VOICE"

Speaking on behalf of the Özyurtlar victims during the protest, Müyesser Dulundu said they want their homes and stated: "We still haven't been able to get the apartments from Özyurtlar that were supposed to be delivered in 2019. Four and a half years have passed, and they have only been able to deliver two of the eight blocks in the complex. Regarding this, we are saying, 'Enough is enough, give us our homes.' We have had many meetings with Tamer Özyurt to date and have been constantly stalled. In our last meeting last year, he said he would finish the entire complex and move out by the time we entered 2024. We waited, and we even gave him this permission, but because he did not stand behind his word again, all the aggrieved rights-holders wanted to make their voices heard."

"DELIVER OUR APARTMENTS"

One of the victims, İnci Can, explained that she saw this project, which belonged to Ukra İnşaat, in an advertisement in 2010 and took out a bank loan after paying a portion in cash to buy a 1+1 apartment. Stating that the project, which was to be delivered between 2012 and 2013, was not delivered following the bankruptcy postponement decision due to company problems in 2012 and that construction stopped, Can said the following:

As a result of the postponement, the project was handed over to Özyurtlar İnşaat. Construction started again in 2017, and they said we would take delivery 2 years later. While moving here, we both paid a difference to get our title deeds and signed documents stating that we would waive our legal rights. It is now 2024 and we still haven't taken delivery. These were blocks they sold themselves, but they also sold apartments in other blocks, and they couldn't deliver those either. Now there are 6 blocks to be delivered, and they are constantly postponing when they will be delivered. The company is working to collect apartments from customers at a low price and resell them. In fact, the place called 'prize' (ödül) has become a punishment for us. We want our apartments to be finished and delivered as soon as possible.

News Source: 12punto