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Concrete is a common building material widely used in building and construction. It consists of a mixture of the three main raw materials: cement, sand and gravel or gravel.

Cement and water are mixed together to form the concrete substrate, which is the binding material that binds the concrete components together. Gravel or gravel and sand are added to the base substrate in specific proportions according to the intended use of the concrete.

In addition to the three main materials, other materials can be added to concrete to improve its properties and mechanical and physical properties, such as glass fibers, polypropylene, or chemicals such as accelerators or air stabilizers.

Concrete is strong and durable and can be molded into different shapes and sizes. It also withstands stresses, tensile, bending and external shocks well, making it a popular choice for various construction works.

Some important and major changes were made in the citizenship through real estate investment rules on 19.12.2022. Before elaborating those changes, it is important to emphasize that all of those changes are going to come into effect as of 01.02.2023.

If a real estate preliminary sale promise contract ("gayrımenkul satış vaadi sözleşmesi" in Turkish) is to be used as investment, 400.000 USD worth investment must be pledged with only a single contract. It does not matter how many real estate properties such a single contract covers but more than one preliminary sale promise contracts cannot be combined for the citizenship application anymore. Preliminary real estate sale promise contracts cannot be combined with already purchased real estate purchases anymore.

It is not possible anymore to apply for the citizenship with a jointly owned real estate. Even if the value of one real estate is much more than 400.000 USD, only one investor can benefit from one real estate for the citizenship application. For example, even if two foreigners purchase a real estate worth 800,000 USD in equal shares (400.000 USD for each) they will not be able to apply for the citizenship.

The real estate which will be purchased by a foreign investor who aims to acquire Turkish citizenship cannot be a real estate owned by a Turkish citizen who obtained the citizenship through investment. It does not matter anymore whether that real estate was previously used for acquiring the citizenship or not. It’s quite a big difference than how the rule was before. For example, if Mr. X buys two real estate properties one of which is worth 400.000 USD and another one 300.000 USD, and uses the first one for the citizenship application, he would be able to sell the other real estate after 3 years of period to new foreign investors who aims to acquire the Turkish citizenship through real estate investment. Mr. X’s only first real estate which has already been used for him to acquire the citizenship would not be able to be used by new investors. However, according to the new rule, none of Mr. X’s real estate can be used by new investors for the citizenship application anymore.

The real estate which is to be purchased by a foreign investor who aims to acquire Turkish citizenship cannot be a real estate owned by a Turkish company if the majority of its shares are owned by foreigners, foreign companies or Turkish citizens who obtained the citizenship through investment. Moreover, this situation cannot change even if those foreign partners have acquired the Turkish citizenship through investment. That means, if a company which has foreigner shareholders is willing to buy/develop and sell real estate to foreign investors who aim to acquire the Turkish citizenship, then the majority of the shareholders must be comprised of either original Turkish citizens or naturalized Turkish citizens who acquired the citizenship in other ways.

The used (second-handed) real estate which is subject to sale or the preliminary sale promise contracts cannot having been transferred to a Turkish citizen/company by any foreign real person within the last three years. Acquisitions arising from the contracts of construction (“eser sözleşmesi” in Turkish) are exempted from this rule.

“Time-shared” real estate ownership (“devremülk” in Turkish) cannot be used for the citizenship application.

If there are more than a real estate that foreign investor purchases for the purpose of acquiring citizenship, the application process must be started at the Directorate of Title Deed Registry of the district where majority of those real estate are located.

If the Directorate of Title Deed Registry finds any of the following points missing, it cannot cancel the application and inform applicant for the completion of the missing point(s):

      a. The lack of necessary authorities in the power of attorneys given to attorneys of applicants,
      b. The lack of annotation on the title deed(s) to pledge 3-years-long sale blockage,
      c. The lack of sale permission for the specific categories of real estate which are subject to permission for sales,
      d. The deficiencies in payment receipts as to the receiver’s or sender’s names,
      e. The deficiencies in payment receipts as to the necessary bank stamps,
      f. The lack of documents proving the origin of applicants,
      g. The deficiencies in the documents proving the identity of applicants.

Since the beginning of 2022, a new kind of official document started being requested by the authorities: Currency exchange document (“döviz alım belgesi” in Turkish). Because it was a recently introduced official document in the Turkish legal and banking system, there emerged some confusing points about currency exchange document. With the new changes, those confusions have been resolved. Accordignly, the necessary content that must be written on the currency exchange document is as follows:

      i. Full name, passport number of foreign ID number of applicant,
      ii. The building and flat number or at least the land parcel number of real estate as recorded on their website
      iii. The equivalent amount of the exchanged money in USD,
      iv. The statement clearly writing that the exchange in hand is being done “with the purpose of acquiring the Turkish citizenship or according to Article 13 of the Regulation Concerning Capital Movements (“Sermaye Hareketleri Genelgesi” in Turkish)”.

The paid amount written on the payment invoice(s) must exactly match the amount written on the currency exchange document. However, if the amount written on the payment invoice is more than the currency exchange document, it will not be a problem anymore.

In summary, it can be argued that there will be major changes in the rules of citizenship through real estate investment in the new year. On one hand, some changes have an indirect negative impact on the naturalized citizens through investment. On the other hand, there will be more clarity about some procedural matters.

Although we will review the insurance law against earthquakes and natural disasters in Turkey, this does not constitute a diminution of real estate in Turkey as much as it constitutes strength and a source of safety for real estate owners in it, and Istanbul is one of the strongest cities in the world at various levels, the most important of which is the real estate field, and there is much talk However, the real reality is that it is a strong and solid city, and the 1999 earthquake gave it a great deal of government attention, so the Turkish government focused most of its attention on constructing buildings and infrastructure according to strict conditions that cannot be tolerated, so that the buildings are resistant to earthquakes and earthquakes over time .
In view of the losses caused by the aforementioned earthquake, Istanbul is considered a steadfast city, and this is evident in all its heritage and current buildings, noting the scholars' assertion that the earthquake line does not pass through the center of Istanbul.
Returning to our main topic, which is real estate insurance against earthquakes, and what does this mean?
This includes everything that proves the construction and makes it steadfast in the face of time factors, and the Turkish government’s take on this matter puts the real estate construction companies in front of a great challenge in producing the best they have, starting from soil analysis experts, testing their suitability and the amount of height of the floor buildings above them, through the materials used in construction and ending with the cladding.
Do earthquakes pose a threat to real estate investment in Turkey?
Natural disasters occur everywhere and their occurrence and damage cannot be predicted. This matter has no human hand in it. The evidence for this is the occurrence of earthquakes in Iran and Indonesia, the occurrence of the well-known tsunami, as well as storms and hurricanes that occur everywhere in the globe and leave a lot of damage and losses.
What are the measures taken by Turkey regarding earthquakes:
After the earthquake of 1999, the Turkish state found itself facing a major challenge, and it issued a list of its most important plans in order to remain on alert for such natural disasters.
The earthquake, which caused great losses, awakened the spirit of preparedness to confront it and to take the best possible measures in order to reduce as much as possible its effects in the event of its occurrence.
For this purpose, he issued a decision to establish Turkish companies to combat natural disasters, DASK, whose mission is insurance in the event of natural disasters resulting from the earthquake, such as:
Destroy the property
property combustion
The property cracked, whether the columns or the walls
Damage to the garden of the property and its accessories
After the establishment of these companies, obtaining an earthquake insurance policy became necessary and obligatory for everyone who wants to own a property in Turkey.
This document - earthquake insurance - is presented with the real estate papers to the municipality, after paying the insurance value by the owner of the property, after he obtains a full explanation of the real estate situation in terms of area, building age, building status, degree of resistance to earthquakes, and materials used in construction.
The owner of the property must pay the insurance value annually to the earthquake insurance company, and the tenant has nothing to do with paying the insurance.
The property owner cannot open the water, electricity and gas meters only after obtaining the property insurance policy against earthquakes
On the other hand, earthquake insurance companies in the event of a natural disaster occur to the property:
Compensating the owner of the property, whether a citizen or a foreigner, with a specified amount of money.
According to the area of the property and the extent of the damage to it.
What does the Turkish government provide to those affected in the event of an earthquake:
The Turkish government is building tents for those affected or providing prefabricated houses

The government provides an amount of money to each affected family

The government asks the Toki Housing Corporation to quickly build the dilapidated properties and provide them to the affected people

What are the places where an earthquake insurance policy is required when owning it:
Residential buildings
Commercial real estate and its workplaces and offices
Private real estate, even if it is under construction, is still in progress. construction license
What are the places that earthquake insurance companies do not insure:
offending buildings
construction in rural areas
Public facilities
Abandoned buildings
The importance of earthquake insurance in Turkey:
Since the decision is valid and binding in Turkey, this prompts construction companies to construct earthquake-resistant real estate according to the best conditions for convergence of damage resulting from the earthquake. Thus, construction companies will do their best to construct a building with high-quality materials and earthquake-resistant features of 8 degrees on the Richter scale, because they will be responsible for Damages if they occur later.
Should you be concerned about the decline in real estate prices in Turkey due to earthquakes:
It is not a matter of concern to property owners or investors for reasons
  1- The annual increase in the population, in particular Istanbul, which has an annual increase of 5.2 per year.
2- The measures taken by the Turkish government represented by the earthquake insurance law and the obligation of construction companies to construct buildings that are highly resistant to earthquakes.

Turkey tops the list of the current scene with the occurrence of the last earthquake on February 6, 2023 AD. There is talk about the importance of observing the earthquake-resistant building system in countries that lie on the earthquake line, including some countries in the Middle East, Japan and others.
It should be noted that the earthquake that occurred in southern Turkey occurred in a place where no earthquake had occurred for hundreds of years, meaning that the buildings there are often old buildings in which earthquake safety rules were not applied because an earthquake was not expected in that part of the earth.
As the Turkish government began measures to prevent building damage as a result of natural disasters after the 1999 earthquake, meaning that the matter differs in Istanbul and its neighboring cities from what it is in the south, and it differs, of course, in newly constructed buildings, that is, after the issuance of the decision to establish the Association for Protection from Natural Disasters DASk.
Construction companies in Turkey have recently tended to implement earthquake protection rules with the help of construction engineers and experts who have concluded a set of controls that must be applied during construction in order to avoid harm to the building and the population. It is noticeable that the municipalities in Istanbul are very interested in this matter and follow-up on all buildings and conduct a routine examination of all buildings In the city through engineers and experts who track the residential communities and conduct accurate analyzes of the soil and the building based on it, then they issue the results of their analysis of the extent to which the building can withstand in the event of possible earthquakes, and based on these results, the building can be left if it has the ability to bear, and if the results prove Not tolerating subsequent earthquakes, the municipality demolishes the building and constructs a new building in its place, taking into account safety conditions. Of course, apartment owners get new apartments.
Therefore, in order to avoid repeated losses, construction companies in Turkey apply the following standards in construction:
First: Adopting a strong structure construction system
This means establishing a building with strong columns in order to distribute the earthquake force towards it, which reduces pressure on other parts of the building and makes the building’s response to the earthquake vertical, giving this method a strong support for the building, knowing that, according to experts, the towers in which this method is followed are more resistant to earthquakes than buildings of lower height.
Second: suitable basis for earthquake resistance:
The building is constructed on a flexible, i.e. soft basis, where the building sways with this foundation without falling, and this method is taken from Japan, where it proved successful in times of disasters.
And these foundations are separated from the floor of the building in the event that if an earthquake occurs, only the supports move and the building remains steadfast.
Third: the water drainage system:
There is no doubt that any water leakage near the foundations of the building exposes the building to great danger in the event of an earthquake. Therefore, water drainage systems are applied in a way that is far from the building, which protects it from exposure to danger during an earthquake.
Fourth: the pendulum system:
They are pillars distributed on the surface of the building in order to stabilize the building during an earthquake, reduce its movement and calm it in the event of an earthquake. These pendulums or dampers are applied by professionals and technically trained.
Fifth: the use of soft building materials:
Among the most famous of these materials at the present time is the material (construction steel), which is a soft material that absorbs shocks and is considered safe and earthquake-resistant, unlike the common building materials such as bricks, which are not classified among the earthquake-resistant building materials because of their hardness.