It should have been a Disneyland for millionaires but ended up becoming the Eldorado of those who love ghost towns. Today Burj Al Babas, in Turkey, looks like a huge expanse of castles all the same, somewhat kitschy constructions equipped with square and rounded turrets that recall the German mansions or recall the famous Galata Tower in Istanbul.
Along its streets there are no luxury cars or shops but building materials, cables, bricks. The impression that the workers suddenly ran away yet, in 2014, Burj Al Babas was presented as a futuristic project, perfect for the new rich.
The Sarot group of the Yerdelen brothers and their partner, Bulent Yilmaz, wanted to exploit the tourist growth of the Turkish capital to attract capital from neighboring Arab countries and Russia. Thanks to the 2,500 workers enrolled, in 2018 this valley halfway between Istanbul and Ankara saw 587 castles rise. The price varies between 370 thousand and 500 thousand dollars for 325 square meters and 350 has already been sold. Then for the stop.
The drop in oil prices and Turkey’s political instability are holding back the project e in 2019 the dream Burj Al Babas is definitively shelved. Of the 732 planned castles, these 500 buildings remain today which, instead of the rich owners, see crowds of photographers parading in search of desolate emotions.
July 1, 2021 (change July 1, 2021 | 23:11)
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