Former Turkish minister cashes in with urban transformation

The family of Erdo?an Bayraktar, who was implicated in the massive corruption probe in December 2013, has earned up to 72.4 million Turkish Liras ($27.6 million) thanks to an urban transformation project pushed by Bayraktar during his tenure as the Environment and Urbanization Minister.

The company run by the Bayraktar family bought a 10,000-square-meter plot of land in Istanbul's Ko?uyolu neighborhood for $22 million in 2013. The former minister had said at the time that there was no conflict of interest, describing the purchase as "an innocent investment."

However, the family recently sold the land to a developer for 114.4 million Turkish Liras ($43.9 million), daily Hürriyet has learned. The massive profit that the Bayraktars earned in just two years is thanks to a recent change in the legal status of the plot.

Earthquake risk being abused

Through a law accepted in parliament in 2012, the Turkish government incentivizes home owners in urban areas at a higher risk of natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, to rebuild their residences. Bayraktar was one of the champions of the bill during his tenure at the ministry.

However, Turkish media recently reported that the law has been abused throughout Turkey for many home owners, as reconstruction efforts have been focused more on lucrative plots near city centers, instead of places where the earthquake risk is much higher.

In the second quarter of 2014, the Bayraktar family reached an agreement with Ofton ?n?aat, a Turkish construction firm, to develop their plot in Ko?uyolu. Soon after, the administration changed the legal status of the plot and included it in the urban transformation zone, citing it as an earthquake risk despite the fact that there was only...