Enforcement of forest regulations on selling forestlands that have lost their forest character in Türkiye: a study of Kızılcahamam district in Ankara province

This article outlines the enforcement of forest regulations on selling status-changed forestlands in Türkiye as a country perspective, Ankara as a province perspective and Kızılcahamam as a district perspective. Based on secondary surveys and research, it is found that Article 6 of Law No 6292 allows the sale of the so-called ‘2/B lands’ (Article 2 Clause B of Law No 6831) and that there have been 6,522 sales transactions in 2,957of real estate properties in 61 neighbourhoods in Kızılcahamam district, with approximately US$9.98 million collected as revenue from these transactions in 2020. Considering Türkiye and Ankara province in general, and Kızılcahamam district in particular, the result of selling forestland in Türkiye poses a somewhat similar picture on the selling of lands that have lost their forest character. It has been observed that Kızılcahamam district is facing significant challenges due to urbanization and profit-oriented real estate development and that the law fails to solve the problem of 2/B qualified properties. It has been determined that the application of Law No 6292, which was enacted on social and economic grounds for both the government and local beneficiaries, seems insufficient to meet the desired goal. In conclusion, it is recommended that reform of 2/B regulation is needed to achieve sustainable forestry and urbanization in Türkiye.