Türkiye's 2027 Presidential Annual Programme plans specialised courts for urban transformation disputes and mandatory urban transformation strategy documents. We summarise the measures and what they may mean for property owners.
This article is based on the text of the 2027 Presidential Annual Programme (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Yıllık Programı) as published on the website of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, as of 29 October 2026. The Annual Programme is a planning document: its measures only become legally enforceable once separate laws, regulations or board decisions are adopted. Please check the current legislation before taking any action. The Turkish version of this article prevails.
If you own a flat in a building slated for urban transformation (kentsel dönüşüm) in Türkiye, or you are a developer working on such a project, two complaints will sound familiar: disputes drag on for years, and projects within the same city move forward with little overall coordination. The 2027 Presidential Annual Programme, dated 27 October 2026, targets both problems with concrete measures: specialised courts for urban transformation disputes and mandatory urban transformation strategy documents.
At the time of writing, the Programme’s Official Gazette (Resmî Gazete) publication details (date and issue number) could not be verified from an official source; news agencies reported that it was published in a duplicate (mükerrer) issue of the Official Gazette dated 27 October 2026. All figures and measures below are taken directly from the Programme text.
What does the Programme provide?
The “Urban Transformation” chapter of the Programme (section 2.4.2) contains four measures. In each, the responsible body is the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, and the Urban Transformation Presidency (Kentsel Dönüşüm Başkanlığı) is among the cooperating bodies.
| Measure | Content | Planned action |
|---|---|---|
| 843.3 | Preparing urban transformation strategy documents will be made mandatory. | Legislative amendments will be made. |
| 844.1 | A data infrastructure will be developed for prioritising transformation areas. | Data infrastructure and software for prioritisation analysis will be developed. |
| 847.1 | Participation mechanisms in settlement processes will be developed, and specialised courts will be set up so that disputes are resolved faster. | Legislative amendments will be made to remove legal and administrative problems encountered in practice. |
| 849.1 | Transformation will be accelerated through incentive programmes. | The Yarısı Bizden (“Half on Us”) Urban Transformation Campaign in Istanbul will continue. |
There is also a numerical target for strategy documents: the number of provinces with an urban transformation strategy document is given as 45 in 2025 and 47 in 2026 (estimated outturn), with a target of 55 provinces for 2027.
Why now? The picture painted by the Programme
According to the Programme, under Law No. 6306 on the Transformation of Areas under Disaster Risk, 292 risky areas in 59 provinces, 200 urban transformation and development project areas in 38 provinces and 20 renewal areas in 11 provinces have been declared. The 1,696 institutions licensed by the Ministry have identified 1,480,000 independent units (flats or commercial units) as risky buildings; together with the transformation areas, the total number of independent units within the scope of urban transformation is 2,761,000.
The Programme also notes that the amendment to the Implementing Regulation of Law No. 6306, which addresses owners’ participation in decision-making and recalibrates the contractor guarantee rate, was published in the Official Gazette on 4 February 2026. Under the Yarısı Bizden campaign, total support is set at TRY 1.875 million (TRY 875,000 grant, TRY 875,000 loan and TRY 125,000 relocation support), and TRY 86.7 billion in support has been provided for 70,416 independent units. For details, see our article on the Yarısı Bizden campaign.
What could a specialised court mean for owners?
Today, urban transformation disputes are heard by different courts depending on their subject matter: challenges to a risky building determination and other administrative acts go to the administrative courts, while private-law disputes such as allocation of units, flat-for-land contracts, delays and defects go to the civil courts. The Programme does not say in which branch of the judiciary, in which provinces or for which types of cases the specialised courts will be established. Nothing has therefore changed yet for pending cases or for filing deadlines; the creation and jurisdiction of these courts depend on future legislation.
The Programme also gives a general picture of judicial specialisation: according to its Business and Investment Environment section, 55 new specialised courts were established in 2026, and as of July 2026 there were 2,978 specialised courts established, of which 2,372 were operational. Under Measure 923.1 in the Justice Services section, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors is to identify new areas of specialisation based on impact analysis.
Who is affected, and what can be done now?
Owners in buildings that have received a risky building determination, owners negotiating with or in dispute with a contractor, and developers running transformation projects should follow this closely. This is particularly relevant for foreign nationals who own property in Istanbul and may not be on site when decisions are taken. The Programme’s measures are not yet binding rules, so no one should let a lawsuit or objection deadline pass while waiting for a specialised court to be set up. For those still negotiating, it is worth drafting dispute resolution and jurisdiction clauses clearly, bearing in mind that the court structure may change. For owners’ rights in general, see our article on owners’ rights in urban transformation and our urban transformation page.
Frequently asked questions
Have specialised urban transformation courts been established?
No. The 2027 Annual Programme only provides that these courts will be set up and that legislation will be prepared for this purpose. Their start date, location and jurisdiction are not yet known.
Will my pending case be transferred to a specialised court?
The Programme says nothing on this point. Whether cases are transferred will depend on the transitional provisions of the future legislation. Until then, cases continue before the courts currently hearing them.
Is an urban transformation strategy document directly binding on owners?
The Programme states that legislation will be adopted to make strategy documents mandatory; the legal nature of the document and its effect on owners will be determined by that legislation. For now, no new obligation for owners arises from strategy documents.
Assessment
The 2027 Programme signals a clear intention to speed up dispute resolution in urban transformation and to tie transformation to province-level strategies; however, what will produce legal effects is the text of the legislation implementing these measures. We will review that legislation once it is published. For questions about your own matter, you may contact us.
Sources
- Presidency of Strategy and Budget, 2027 Presidential Annual Programme (October 2026), sections 2.2.3.2, 2.4.2 and 2.5.1 (in Turkish)
- Presidency of Strategy and Budget, 2027 Presidential Annual Programme publication page (in Turkish)
This content is provided for general information and does not constitute legal advice.