In northwest Türkiye, on the outskirts of a village called Modorno, lie hundreds and hundreds of abandoned castles – 732 to be exact. What once promised to be a luxury community located between Turkey’s two largest cities has turned into a graveyard of uninhabited luxury homes.
This is the story of Burj al-Babas.
It looks like a model village. The scale and similarity of the palaces play tricks on your eyes and the Gothic architecture intensifies the effect. The cornices, balconies, and flying buttresses look like someone was surprised to build a historical model. And yet, there was certainly a pair of brothers who were bold enough to enter the Tower of Al-Babas in real life.
Known as the Yerdelen brothers, together with their partner, Bulent Yilmaz, they ran a company called Sarut Group. Al-Babas Tower, based in Istanbul, was one of the group’s flagship projects as they sought to cash in on Türkiye’s economic boom. Friendly property rules were introduced in the early 20th century with the introduction of mortgages in 2001 and amendments to the rules for international buyers.
Soon, wealthy Russians and Arabs were acquiring properties along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, as well as in Istanbul. Recep Erdogan, who has gone from mayor to prime minister to president, went so far as to grant citizenship to anyone who invested more than $250,000 in real estate.
Al-Babas Towers aimed to capitalize on this opportunity by creating a decadent city right between Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and the country’s capital, Ankara.
Work on 732 “exclusive villas” began in 2014. Each was three stories tall with an expansive 150-foot roof terrace. Prices started at $310,000. Construction was expected to take four years. On top of the individual residences, there were supposed to be swimming pools, Turkish baths, saunas, steam rooms, health and beauty centers, water parks, gyms, and even a shopping complex.
The Al-Babas Tower website continues to write: “Social facilities provide free services to the residents of the site. “This complex meets all your needs, cinemas, restaurants, fast food areas, playgrounds, children’s entertainment centers, free internet, conference halls, small meeting rooms, parking, car wash services and nursery services. Basketball courts, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor soccer fields, hiking trails, horseback riding, and ATV tours are among the social activities in these facilities.
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Many houses were destroyed. More than 350 were sold, according to Mehzer Yerdelen, who spoke to The New York Times in 2019. Home (even if it is a strange and superficial imitation) is in Türkiye.
However, they were not everyone’s cup of tea. According to local news at the time, local people were outraged by the difference between Al-Babas Tower and other architecture in Türkiye’s Bulu province. Then, in 2018, Türkiye entered an economic crisis and real estate investment dried up.
Even before construction was finished, the developers were forced to file for bankruptcy as sales plummeted and costs rose. A lawsuit also accused the Yreldens of destroying trees and damaging the environment.
With the arrival of Covid-19, the economic crisis has spread beyond Turkey’s borders and the Al-Babas Tower project now looks unsalvageable, although the Yerdelans are said to be hopeful and potentially rent out the castles as holiday homes.
As it is, Burj al-Babas, nestled in a valley in Türkiye, is surely the strangest city that never existed.
