01.03.2025 15:30
In Ormana, which was selected as the 'Best Tourism Village in the World' in Antalya, many of the button houses that are 200-300 years old were included in the 2014 Conservation-Oriented Zoning Plan as 'marketplace', 'place of worship', and 'police station'. The process was interrupted because no opinions were sought from public institutions regarding the plan that was revised 6 years ago. İbradı Municipality has decided to demolish the button houses that are not included in the plan.
In Ormana, a historic Yörük village located on the summit of the Taurus Mountains, which feeds the Manavgat River with its streams, there is an issue with the zoning plan. Ormana, selected as the '2024 Best Tourism Village' by the World Tourism Organization for its historical buttoned houses and 57-year tradition of grape festivals, is facing zoning plan problems. Many buttoned houses used as boutique hotels and tourist restaurants in Ormana, which is also the village of Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, are not included in the Conservation-Oriented Zoning Plan prepared in 2014. Some locations of the houses are marked in the plan as 'marketplace', 'place of worship', and 'police station'.
FIRST RESTORATION WAS DONE IN 2010 The story of Ormana, a village where only the elderly population lives and which is very difficult to access, being chosen as the 'Best Tourism Village in the World' and turning into a village that hosts around 200,000 tourists a year began in 2010. That year, businessman Aydın Özgüven from Ormana and his son Tolga Özgüven returned to their village. The first restoration of the dilapidated buttoned houses in Ormana was also carried out by this family and transformed into a boutique hotel. Tolga Özgüven, who stated that they pioneered the restoration of buttoned houses at that time, expressed that many mistakes were made in the Conservation-Oriented Zoning Plan prepared in 2014 for the development and protection of the ecotourism movement that started in the village during those years. Özgüven mentioned that the historic house belonging to his family, which has a history of over 200 years, is not visible in the plan, and this area is marked as a marketplace, noting that many buttoned houses belonging to villagers are also not included in the plan.
THEY TENDERED FOR REVISION IN 2019 Özgüven explained that the areas where the historic houses are located were mistakenly designated as a marketplace, place of worship, police station, 15-meter wide roads, and green areas, and stated that nearly 300 objection petitions were submitted to correct the mistakes in the plan at that time. He mentioned that İbradı Municipality did not take any action and kept the objection petitions waiting, saying, "Due to the intense requests and complaints of villagers whose property rights were restricted, İbradı Municipality accepted that the zoning plan was faulty and opened a tender for its revision in 2019, granting authority to an urban regional planning company."
90% OF HISTORIC HOUSES ARE IN DANGER Özgüven stated that the plan revision process could not progress due to the lack of opinions that needed to be obtained from state institutions in the past 6 years, saying, "The faulty conservation-oriented zoning plan has not been revised for 11 years. In the village where 550 people live, properties that are privately owned by citizens are not being revised in accordance with the nature of the existing properties due to the faulty zoning plan. Therefore, nearly 90% of the historic houses in the village are under the threat of demolition."
"WE EXPECT THIS MISTAKE TO BE CORRECTED URGENTLY" Özgüven pointed out that the area where the historic buttoned house, which was the first restoration in the region and transformed into a boutique hotel and tourist restaurant, is mistakenly written as a 'marketplace' in the zoning plan, saying, "We have been waiting for the correction of this long-standing mistake with 300 objections. 50 days ago, a demolition decision was issued by İbradı Municipality for our historic buttoned house with an operating license from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism because it was not visible in the zoning plan and our private property was shown as a marketplace. Similarly, a demolition decision has also been notified for another tourist business in the village like ours. We urgently expect this mistake to be corrected." Hilmi Bigen, who runs a business serving tourist groups in Ormana, stated, "These days, tourists can no longer come to our village. The reason is that many of the tourism businesses have been closed. Businesses with zoning issues have been shut down. Moreover, there is no longer any tranquility in Ormana, known as 'Cittaslow'. We kindly ask our elders to open these businesses as soon as possible."
TOURISTS ARE TURNING BACK FROM CLOSED DOORS Day trips organized by tourism companies from Alanya and Manavgat to Ormana within the scope of ecotourism activities have also been disrupted due to the closure of tourist businesses. Yavuz Sayan, who brings tourist groups from Alanya, stated that the businesses where they used to take meal breaks have closed. Sayan said, "We are in Ormana, which has been selected as a World Tourism Village. We came to explore the village and have lunch, but unfortunately, we saw that the businesses here have closed. We are left in the middle with our guests who came to contribute to ecotourism. I hope this problem is resolved as soon as possible." Villagers who depend on tourism and representatives of companies that supply products to tourism businesses also called for the problem to be resolved quickly and for tourism businesses to reopen. No statement has been made by the authorities of İbradı Municipality regarding the issue.