The legal battle initiated by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality regarding the transfer of ownership of Taksim Gezi Park to the Sultan Bayezid Foundation has finally concluded.
Taksim Gezi Park is a small urban park in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, next to Taksim Square. It is one of the few remaining green spaces in the area. In 2013, plans to demolish the park and replace it with a shopping mall and a reconstruction of the former Taksim Military Barracks, which were destroyed in 1940, sparked nationwide protests in Türkiye.
Gezi Park, which was transferred to the Sultan Beyazıt Hanı Veli Hazretleri Foundation by the General Directorate of Foundations three years ago, is now back in the ownership of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality due to a recent court decision. The Istanbul 1st Civil Court of First Instance made the decision yesterday, and if it is upheld in the appellate and supreme courts, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality will become the sole owner of Gezi Park.
A March 12, 2021, court decision has returned the ownership of Taksim Gezi Park to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The Istanbul 1st Civil Court of First Instance found the transfer of the Gezi Park to the Sultan Beyazıt Hanı Veli Hazretleri Foundation to be wrongful.
The court, which concluded the title deed cancellation lawsuit filed by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on March 19, 2024, emphasized that the properties in question were not built by the foundation. The court decided that the title deeds registered in the foundation’s name should be canceled and that they should be registered and recorded in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s name.
What has happened?
Three years ago, Taksim Gezi Park, which belongs to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), was taken out of the municipality’s possession by the General Directorate of Foundations, claiming that the conditions specified in Article 30 of the Foundations Law were met.
On March 12th, 2021, the Sultan Beyazıt Hanı Veli Hazretleri Foundation was registered in the land registry. However, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) claimed the registration process was unlawful and filed a lawsuit on April 9th, 2021. The case was heard by the Istanbul 1st Civil Court of First Instance.
Experts’ opinion
During the legal proceedings, the court reviewed expert reports submitted by four foundation law experts specializing in the field. These reports affirmed that the Sultan Beyazıt Hanı Hazretleri Foundation has no ownership rights to the properties in question.
The reports have confirmed that no evidence suggests that the parcels mentioned in the foundation deed are cultural assets built through the foundation. Expert opinions have also confirmed that the properties were not built by the foundation, and no foundation cultural assets exist on the properties in question.
“No trace of the foundation”
Upon this, the General Directorate of Foundations objected to the court, claiming that the Taksim Military Barracks, which once existed within Gezi Park, was a cultural asset.
The court also requested an evaluation of the matter from the perspective of the Taksim Military Barracks. Four art historians, experts in art history and archaeology, provided their opinions to the court on this matter.
According to the report, Taksim Military Barracks, which no longer exists today, was not constructed through the foundation route, indicating that the barracks are also not the foundation’s cultural asset.
It was also noted that archive documents or historical records do not mention that the Taksim Military Barracks is the foundation’s property, and there is no evidence of any cultural asset on the parcels in question today. Therefore, it was expressed that the conditions specified in Article 30 of Law No. 5737 on Foundations Law have not been met, and it is impossible to register the property in the Sultan Beyazıt Hanı Veli Hazretleri Foundation’s name.
As a result, The Istanbul 1st Civil Court of First Instance, which concluded the case, favored the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM). The court decided to cancel the title deeds registered in the name of the Sultan Beyazıt Hanı Veli Hazretleri Foundation and to register them in the name of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
If the appellate and supreme court stages also favor the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), then Gezi Park will revert to the ownership of the IMM.
