Yes there have been rip-offs and probably will continue to be just on a smaller scale. We can only sympthise with those that are in this position.
As was said earlier a lot of these are years old and really only just coming to light now because of the current finacial crisis ( no consolation to those on the receiving end I know!) So much has been said about Turkish Rip-offs…and let’s bash Altinkum appears to be popular at the moment. We bought two properties here and had few problems throughout the whole process. Of course had to wait for military clearance (don’t understand that one, were both members of Nato!) and had the usual wait for our TAPU, pulled our hair out at the Tedash and Beledeysi on occasion (particularly when we received that bloody bill for the road ) but overall quite an easy ride.
If we had been unlucky enough to have fallen foul of these other lying, thieving, scheming bas***ds then we may be in the same position as some forum members whose dreams have been shattered.
This type of thing is not confined to any one place or country, check out Spain, Portugal, Northern Cyprus (watch that one closely!) and other popular countries I’m sure you will find the same thing there…Wherever there’s money to be made you will find the sharks! The big point here is the Turkish Bureaucratic System (perhaps unwittingly) has allowed this to flourish.
Let’s also not forget that corruption is not limited to overseas! Look what happening at home in the good old UK, practically every Member of Parliament is scrabbling to pay back money or cover their tracks and make elaborate excuses as to why they needed thousands of pounds worth of Hanging Baskets, or Moats, or were still receiving payment for mortgages that didn’t exist, etc, etc.
If you or I had done this we would probably be up in front of a Judge, and this goes from top to bottom! How many people know someone who knows someone in the local council who bypassed the usual channels and has “sorted” something for them?
We live here, currently love it, yes we have moments when we wonder what the hell we are doing here, where most of the time left hand don’t know what the right hand is doing……….but for now we are settled here, that’s not to say we wont move on sometime in the future?
Some of the things Turkey has provided us with, (in no particular order) im sure others could think of a lot more?
New friends from all walks of life;
A quality of life we could only dream of;
A vastly reduced cost of living;
A great rate of interest which allowed us to retire early (yeah I know its been cut but still great comapred to the UK)
Property that we could not possibly afford elsewhere in the world;
Beautiful weather (most of the year);
Fantastic nights eating out for so little money;
Cheap transport (you can go anywhere on a bus here (well equipped and modern) for practically nothing compared to the UK)
Other things:-
For those that were astute or brave enough large sums of interest on your initial capital in Turkish banks (for those lucky few I believe (not us unfortunately) 45% in the beginning),
For those who have fallen seriously ill, immediate medical treatment (yes you pay but better than waiting on an NHS waiting list, or parked in some dark and dusty corridor while waiting for a bed)
For those that have very serious medical conditions that according to British Doctors were not operable, a new lease of life.
