AKP municipality moves to demolish mosque for luxury residence
One of the companies of the Gümüşhane Municipality, run by the AKP, has attempted to demolish a mosque to open up space for a luxury housing project. In the face of huge reaction, the court ruled to stop the demolition for now.
Duvar English
A company belonging to the municipality of the northern province of Gümüşhane, run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has designed a project to build 729 luxury residences. They also decided to demolish a 70-year-old mosque that is located on the edge of the land of the project. The municipality's move caused a huge reaction amongst residents of the neighborhood.
According to reporting by Veli Toprak from daily Sözcü, the municipality promised to build a new mosque somewhere else upon objections. But since there has been no attempt to build the new mosque, the association of the mosque brought the issue to the court. A Gümüşhane court stopped the demolition on Jan. 13 -- for now.
The court said that it could revoke its decision if an agreement is reached between the association and Gümüşhane Municipality regarding the construction of a new mosque in another location.
The AKP got 49.16% of the votes in Gümüşhane in the 2019 local elections.