Mr Turkey

This has been more widely picked up by news agencies now, and is reported in the Turkish Daily news , 9/5/08.

I have reproduced the article below.

Five-storey buildings allowed in Bodrum – Sabah

The Culture and Tourism Ministry's decision to allow construction up to five floors on sloped land in tourist areas drew reactions from Bodrum, a tourism hotspot, daily Sabah reported yesterday.

The decision comes as a blow to Bodrum's innate architectural structure. The Culture and Tourism Ministry has declared Bodrum Peninsula in Turkey's southern Aegean region a “culture and development area” and has taken over Bodrum's building and development planning authority from the local municipality. The previous building plan on sloped lands in Bodrum allowed for one basement and two floors. The new decision allows for two floors of basement with three floors above.

This new decision will allow for the construction of taller hotel buildings. This is seen as the legalization of numerous constructions that have caused reaction amid the public.

Bodrum Hotels and Tourism Managers Association Chairman Halil Özyurt defined the decision as “the death verdict of Bodrum.” The Chamber of Architects of Turkey Bodrum Representative Mahmut Yıldırım said the declaration of Bodrum Peninsula as a “culture and development area” has caused all building plans to be geared toward illegitimate profits. He added that they have objected to these plans, have opened and won court cases against them since 2002. He said, “Due to differences in elevation on the slopes, the plan will cause the buildings to be constructed to rise as high as 10 floors.”

Law on use of forestland passes - Hürriyet

A draft that limits the allocation of forested land to tourism to 0.5 percent was passed in Parliament yesterday, daily Hürriyet reported. According to this law, the 53 tourism facilities whose construction was banned by a decision of the Constitutional Court overruling the previous law allowing their construction can continue where they had left off. The new regulation amends the Tourism Promotion Law and enhances the “preserve-and-use” principle. The previous law, which was passed in 2004, was overruled by the Constitutional Court based on the argument that preservation of forests was of top priority in terms of public interest. Forestation cost of land three times the area of the land allocated to the tourism investment and the cost of three years of the forest area's maintenance will be deposited at the Forestry General Directorate's bank account by the investor. These conditions will apply to all land considered to be “forestland” even if there are no trees on the land or no trees have been felled. The money collected will be used for forestation of land and maintenance of forests.

MR TURKEY