The description of the Chamber of City Planners is as follows:
“The Zoning Amendment Bill has been on our agenda since February. As it will be remembered, the process started with the submission of the draft amendment to the Zoning Law to the Parliament the day after the Maraş earthquake disaster. As a result of great efforts and public reaction, this amendment bill was withdrawn in March, but was presented again to the Parliament a short time later, on 23 May.
In the Assembly Committee, which was formed to discuss the European Union Harmonization Bills, the draft started to be discussed with the participation of the Chamber of City Planners and many non-governmental organizations for about a month.
At the last stage, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, when the Assembly Committee will be held, the Committee announced that the draft amendment would not be carried forward, taking into account the evaluations made and especially the opinions of the prosecutor’s office, and stated that they would work in cooperation with our Chamber in order to prepare a more comprehensive and healthy draft law. The Chamber of City Planners welcomes this decision and intention as a positive development in terms of public interest and is considered as a new opportunity for public interest.
The most important factor in the suspension of the draft law amendment sent to the Parliamentary Committee in May is undoubtedly the opinions in the opinion letter sent by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor (Legal Department) to the Parliament and relevant parties on 10 July 2023. In this article, it is clearly revealed that this draft amendment, which will pave the way for the transfer of the authority to make zoning plans to the municipalities, is unconstitutional. It is stated in the amendment draft that it is not clear which criteria the zoning plans should comply with, the criteria for the transfer of authority, how the transfer process will be supervised, who will be responsible, what the minimum qualifications of the personnel who will make the plan should be, how the delegated authority will be used. It is clearly stated that the ‘principle of legal certainty’ and therefore the draft law amendment is unconstitutional. Detailed information can be found in the Attorney General’s Opinion Letter, a copy of which is attached.
As mentioned in various press releases published by our Chamber during the process, the most important factor behind the effort to pass the draft amendment hastily from the Parliament is the discussions revolving around the Famagusta-Iskele-Yeniboğaziçi Zoning Plan, which has not been put into effect since 2019, although all its legal processes have been completed.
As the Chamber of City Planners, we are doing our best to get out of the deadlock in the region as soon as possible and we will continue to do so. On the other hand, we will continue to work, as we have done for a long time, for a modern, lawful, scientific and public interest zoning amendment that concerns all segments of the public.
Being aware of the fact that the Zoning Law is an issue that concerns us all, we would like to thank every sector and institution that cooperated and supported it, and we announce to the public that we will follow the process and work for the better in the public interest.
