Yes , I am really perplexed by this whole property sales to foreigners thing. I have lived in Turkey for nearly four years and have purchased property.
Originally Foreigners could not own land or property in Turkey, any property bought by a foreigner had to be registered in the name of a Turkish citizen. You can only imagine the problems this caused!!
The law was subsequently changed, sales to foreigners was allowed providing the land was not situated in Military or other protected areas. The principle to be applied was one of Reciprocity, i.e. a foreigner would be afforded the same rights to buy in Turkey as a Turkish cirizen in that country.
Wonderfull, lots of people purchased , the Construction Companies and Emlaks had a field day. Land and Property was reasonabley priced, particularly in comparison with Spain and Portugal. The Germans were first in. With news of impending EU membership other Europeans soon followed, Brits, Dutch,etc. Other nationalities also bought in Turkey, particularly the Israelis and Syrians who, I understand, took up the opportunity and purchased vast tracts of farm land on the Syrian /Turkish border.
Alarm bells in Ankara started ringing, it was all going horribly wrong. Whilst Turkey was very happy with the boost in Foreign Investment, particularly economic growth due to the jobs created in the Construction and Tourism Industry, others were now very concerned about the effects to the Turkish State and its borders by the ownership of vast tracts of land along the coastline and its borders by Foreigners.
The Title Deeds Law regarding ownership of land by Foreigners was subsequently Cancelled in July 2005.
In January 2006 a New Tiltle Deed Law was enacted. This basically had the effect of limiting the size of land that could be purchsed by Foreigners to 2.5 hectares and placed further restriction on the location and types of land that could be purchased. This Law has been further amended to include the requirement for the land to be included in the Local Zoning or 'Imar Plan' for the area. This later amendment was to comply with EU Regulations regarding Town and Country Planning.
Also the Issue of Tapu's, Title deeds ,we were informed, would be speeded up because local Belediye would draw up maps as part of the Zoning Plan. The Military would indicate their restricted areas on the maps and thus the issue of Title Deeds would be issued by Local Belediye.
Unfortunately for some, this 'new Law' has been implemented retrospectively. Now there are many people, particularly Germans , who bought under the original Law who cannot sell their property to a Foreigner. They have been effectively dis-enfranchised, limiting their prospects of sale to a Turkish national, at much reduced price. A possible alternative is to pay for an Imar Plan to be completed, at many 1000 YTL and hopefully get this approved by Ankara and the Local Belediye.
This situation may appear appaling however even the EU Human Rights Commision have accepted that Turkey retains the right to 'deprive ownership'of any property owned by a foreigner and that laws with respect to land and property may be different for Turkish Citizens.
So much for RECIPROCITY !!!
The Title Deed law has been cancelled and is to change again!! Not too sure what this is all about. Perhaps someone can explain. Is this to do with the 2.5 hectater limitation or that the implemntation of the Janauary 2006 Title Deed Law as a whole was 'unconstitutional'.
Perhaps someone could also explain to me, having invested thousands of pounds in Turkey, just what security of Tenure a Foreigner is offered in this country.
Turkey aims to become a full member of the EU, it wants Foreign Investment, it wants tourism. The previous law was /is discriminatory with respect to foreigners. I do not beleive that the UK/Germany or any other EU country would retrospectively implement any law which effectively nationalises a home owned by a foreigner, after all huge tracts of London are 'owned' by foreigners. Why is Turkey so Zenophobic, land is an 'immovable object', it will ALWAYS BE PART OF TURKEY, whether 'owned' by a Foreigner or not.
