Gecekondu

A Turkish phrase – literally, “built overnight” – describing illegal constructions.

The Turkish government plans to demolish all illegally constructed buildings by 2015, Ercan Yavuz reported in Today’s Zaman:

According to data from the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, 65 percent of buildings in Turkey have been built in contravention of the country’s zoning laws. This figure is as high as 95 percent in the metropolis of İstanbul. Twenty of İstanbul’s 35 districts are swamped with gecekondu – a Turkish phrase used to depict homes constructed without permits, which literally translates as “built overnight.”

Again, according to data from the ministry, 761,000 of the approximately 1.5 million buildings in İstanbul were constructed without building permits. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants these gecekondus demolished and replaced with housing available under urban transformation projects.

Yavuz noted that the problem of illegal construction is more serious than the contravention of zoning laws. In 1999, an earthquake in the country’s northwest killed almost 20,000 people. According to Yavuz:

One of the primary reasons behind the government’s plan is the expectation of another disaster.

The ministry estimates at least 700,000 houses bear the risk of collapsing by themselves even without an earthquake.