Turkey’s housing agency TOKİ faces over 5 thousand court cases in 5 years

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Niğde MP Ömer Fethi Gürer has brought the court cases filed against the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) to the Parliamentary agenda.

Addressing a Parliamentary question to Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum about the TOKİ, which is affiliated with the Ministry, CHP's Gürer previously asked the Minister the following questions:

"How many lawsuits have been filed against the TOKİ in the last five years? How much money has been paid by the TOKİ in damages to the plaintiffs in the years of 2020 and 2021 as part of the suits for damages over belated delivery and deficient and defective works?

"With how many companies has the TOKİ got into a partnership on house building workis in the last five years?

"Are there any companies where the TOKİ is a partner with a 49-percent share? Are these companies audited by the Court of Accounts?"

Answering the questions of the main opposition lawmaker, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Kurum has announced that 5,045 court cases have been filed against the TOKİ in the last 5 years.

Payment of damages

Minister Murat Kurum has announced that there are court cases, including lawsuits for damages, against the TOKİ, such as the ones demanding the cancellation of an administrative action, the cases stemming from enforcement proceedings, the lawsuits pertaining to expropriation prices, their determination and confirmation, the court cases about the receivables of workers, the cancellation and confirmation of title deeds, suits for damages over belated delivery, the cases filed by the contractor companies and the ones filed over deficient and defective works.

According to Kurum, the total amount of damages paid by the TOKİ in 2020-2021 (as of May 31) was 7,653,303 Turkish Lira (TRY). The Minister has also indicated that five tenders were lodged and the contracts were signed by the TOKİ as part of "Revenue Sharing in Return for Land Sale"ç

Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum has also announced that there are four affiliates where the TOKİ has 49 percent or more of the shares: Emlak Konut Real Estate Investment Trust (49.37 percent), Vakıf Construction Restoration and Trading Joint Stock Company (53.09 percent), TOBAŞ (49.9524 percent) and GEDAŞ (49 percent). (EMK/SD)