Foreign buying ‘will not affect army land’

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Minister Çağlayan (L) says land sale to foreigners will not include strategic plots.

Recent changes to the law allowing real estate sales to foreigners do not particularly affect restricted military areas, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said yesterday.

“The land that the Chief of General Staff office considers necessary to be restricted for military reasons is equal to 1/1000 of Turkey’s geographical surface area,” Çağlayan said.

Çağlayan was responding to reporters’ questions on the occasion of a ceremony in Ankara. He explained the details and practice of the new law allowing property sales to foreigners, and indicated that the army will be consulted about sales in specific areas.

“The remaining areas will be subject to the laws and regulations of other ministries,” he said. Çağlayan responded to critics of the law, saying: “The land stays here. It goes nowhere.”

Citizens of 183 countries are allowed to acquire fixed property, buildings and land in Turkey according to the new regulations, which lift the reciprocity principal for foreign citizens to acquire real estate in the country. The law easing property sales to foreigners was approved by Parliament in early May, but such transactions have come to a halt since May 18. A decree including a list of countries whose citizens are eligible to acquire property in Turkey was released on Aug. 6, opening the way for property sales to foreigners to begin again.