ANKARA: Armenian Foundation Ventures Into Real Estate Sector With Is

ARMENIAN FOUNDATION VENTURES INTO REAL ESTATE SECTOR WITH ISTANBUL PROJECT

Hurriyet

Dec 14 2010
Turkey

Istanbul’s Armenian community has ventured into the city’s booming
property sector with the completion of Lotus Evleri, a luxury housing
project. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

Istanbul’s Armenian community has ventured into the city’s booming
property sector with the completion of Lotus Evleri, a luxury housing
project whose foundations were laid four years ago by Patriarch
Mesrop II.

The project was built on 11,250 acres of land on a ridge overlooking
the Bosphorus. The land is the biggest piece of land owned by
Istanbul’s Armenian community.

The Ortaköy Surp Asdvazsazsin Armenian Church Foundation handed over
the land to a construction company in return for a portion of the
apartments to be built.

The construction of Lotus Evleri was completed last year and tenants
have been moving into the 200 luxury apartments for some time now.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, Ýskender
Þahingöz, president of the foundation, said the community reclaimed
the valuable land through intense efforts.

“This land was taken [from us] by the Treasury in 1973, just after
the Bosphorus Bridge was built. The reason was national security. Then
the land was assigned to the Defense Ministry,” Þahingöz said.

The foundation filed a lawsuit in 1996 against the state and won
the land back. “This case was a first in the history of minority
foundations,” Þahingöz said.

Jesus the fugitive

In Ottoman times, minority foundation property was registered under
the names of Jesus Christ, Mary and the apostles to prevent inheritance
disputes.

Later, however, the Treasury declared the owners of the land to be
“fugitives” when it confiscated the land from the community, according
to Þahingöz.

The foundation leader praised European Union adjustment laws and the
Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government as keys to getting
the land back.

“We were not even able to use our money as we wanted [in the old
days],” he said. “Now we can use it as we like. The new regulations on
minority foundations, though not enough, give us hope for the future.”

As foundation lands are notoriously mired in various ownership
disputes in Turkey, finding a construction company for the project
proved difficult.

The Lotus Evleri have 20 luxury blocks as well as shopping and
sports complexes. Þahingöz declined to say how many apartments the
foundation received in return for the land, but added that the rent
revenues would be used to finance the expenditures of the Tarkmançazs
school and church, which belong to the foundation, and to engage in
new investments.

From: A. Papazian