Dec 26, 2023

Reserve Building Area Law in the Autocratic Presidential System Türkiye

Written By: Anna Thorner

After the constitutional referendum in 2017 Turkey, the state started a new era of its democratic history. In 2017 Turkey held a referendum and according to that referendum the parliamentary system has turned into a presidential and executive presidential system. After that in 2018 Justice and Development Party (who brought forward the new system) won the presidential elections and a new era started. In the executive presidential system, the presidential decisions are final law so the parliament has lost its importance. As time goes by the presidential decisions turned the system into an autocratic system in which the citizens lost their words, rights, or institutions that secured them. Lastly, in 2023 December the Reserve Building Areas Law violate private property rights. The Law was according to the reason to emerge, to prevent the loss of life and property due to earthquake but it wasn’t protecting the right of property of the individuals. For instance, before that law, there was a state law that could open empty areas for development but with the new law even if that area was filled by buildings and properties it can be also stated as a reserve building area and individuals who have properties and etc has to leave the place and let it rights to the government and therefore they will be compensated with a property that is determined by the state. This can result in lots of property worth loss because the worth of properties is changing due to the area change. For instance, a house can be sold in İstanbul for ten thousand but the same house is sold in Ardahan for one thousand. In addition, the state is claiming that the law will be used only for the areas that are very old and not ready for an earthquake but the thing is in an autocratic presidential system it is very easy to open an earthquake resistance control company if you are a member of that regime and abuse that law by just saying this building is not ready for the earthquake. Even if the individual resists and goes to court the prosecutors are also members of the regime and there is no way to defend your individualistic property rights because of the presidential system that determines everything simply with a decision.

Moreover, the regime also abuses this law for individualistic reasons. For instance, the buildings which are in the determined area are demolished by the government, and the new ones are also constructed by the Toki which is a state company and the rulers of that company are determined again by the regime with the decisions. So, an area in İstanubul, Beylerbeyi can be stated as an reserve building area in law and the taken properties of individuals can be sold, after the renovation process for thousands of dollars. Again, here it is seen that in autocratic regimes like Turkiye there is a lack of protecting property rights but also a lack of law for making profit with the law for the regime members.

In autocratic regimes, the laws work for the regime not for all the citizens of that country. There are lots of other laws that were determined by the presidential decision such as the music law that forbids opening music in enterprises. This law was stated for the COVID-19 era but also continued after the COVID-19 pandemic. In the autocratization process in countries like Türkiye, everything is controlled by the regime and is changed with time one by one. The presidential system in Türkiye is the end of democratic Türkiye and with the Reserve Building law, the era of private property rights is also canceled.

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