Lawsuit filed against developer of château-style buildings in Mudurnu

İdris Emen – BOLU

A lawsuit has been filed against the developers of the Burj Al Babas housing project on grounds that the company destroyed trees and dumped excavated soil on forestland in the district of Mudurnu in the northwestern province of Bolu.

The action was taken after it was brought to the limelight that Sarot Group, developers of the Burj Al Babas project, damaged 6.5 decares of forestland and uprooted 82 black pine and oak trees during the construction of the controversial project.

Following a criminal complaint in 2015, an indictment was filed in 2016 against the company’s officials, including offenses such as “occupancy of forestland, forest utilization and settlement in forest and wood-chopping of usable forest assets.”

The indictment said excavated soil was dumped in the forest, as a result of which 46 trees were tumbled down.

During the construction process, barbed wire was set up in a particular area of the forestland leading to the “extricating and utilization of the forestland” offense, the indictment said.

The lawsuit against the Sarot Group is proceeding in a Mudurnu court.

Meanwhile, developer Sarot Group was recently declared bankrupt over the Burj Al Babas project, with many of its clients asking to get paid their money.

“In 2013, I purchased a timeshare studio for 13,000 Turkish Liras. I fully paid the cost. My timeshare was supposed to be delivered in 2015,” said Nilüfer Önce, a client of the project.

“Legally, our money should be refunded,” said another client named Mehmet Şahin.

Şahin expressed that they filed a complaint for a refund to the Communications Center of the Presidency (“CİMER” in Turkish) and also filed a criminal complaint with courts.

The Burj Al Babas project includes 732 chateau-style villas with Turkish baths, mosques and shopping centers. It had unleashed controversy within Mudurnu for its unaesthetic architecture.