Local governor declares illegal stories of hotel in Kaş will be demolished

ANTALYA

A local administrator in the southern resort town of Kaş has vowed to demolish the illegally built stories of a new hotel, upon news the hotel had not been demolished despite a local municipality decree, daily Hürriyet has reported.

Kaş District Gov. Bilgihan Bayar said, “All illegal constructions in the hotel will be demolished,” speaking about the Meis Hotel, a five-story hotel constructed in an area where only two-story buildings were permitted to be built.

“The municipality will demolish all illegal constructions in that [Meis] hotel. There is no other way. Kaş Mayor [Halil Kocaer’s] stance on that issue is clear. Our mayor will demolish all illegal stories,” said Bayar, commenting on the hotel located in the Çukurbağ Peninsula in the southern province of Antalya.

“We will file a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office if authorities do not fulfil their responsibilities,” Bayar added.

He also claimed the firms did not want to participate in the tender to demolish the hotel’s illegal stories due to “fear” their businesses would have “enemies.” 

“When you leave it [the demolition] to the municipality, their vehicles are incapable of reaching the upper side of the hotel building. But let me be clear on that: The municipality has to do it. I have already talked to our mayor and we will follow the issue,” said Bayar.

In mid-March, the municipal council issued a decree to demolish the illegally-constructed three stories of the hotel, stating the extra stories were being illegally constructed. Later in March, the Antalya Natural Assets Protection Board issued a decree stating the Kaş Municipality “should do whatever it takes” to stop the construction incompatible with the construction code.

The Kaş Municipality in May, however, said a decree had been issued for demolition, adding it had “no equipment” for the action stated in the decree.