Çaldıran trustee builds hotel with politicians and religious congregations

The public land in Çaldıran, province of Van was leased by former municipality trustee, Şefik Ensari, to the Menzil congregation in 2017 for a period of 49 years.

A 4-star hotel is now being built.

The hotel construction started in the first months of this year. The owner of the thermal hotels opened in many parts of Turkey is Yusuf Mecek, the former Mayor of Belek in Antalya. The other partners of the hotel are Nazım Karakoç, an AKP businessperson, and Şefik Ensari, the trustee of Çaldıran Municipality. It was alleged that the partner behind the scenes of the hotel is Engin Levent Soylu, son of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.

In 2018, a thermal ski center was built in the area where the thermal hotel is located by the municipality trustee.

Despite losing the local elections on 31 March 2019, trustee Şefik Ensari, who was appointed to Çaldıran Municipality by the Ministry of Interior, described the hotel project with these words last February: “We will build a new thermal ski center in an area of 50 decares. Our new ski center will be 9 kilometres long. When you reach the summit, Tendürek and Ağrı mountains can be seen. The centre will be well equipped and will have a thermal hotel inside. No ski resort and thermal hotel in the world are intertwined, they are normally far from each other. Here they will be in the same spot.”

Local sources we talked to about the subject said that Çaldıran wanted to be turned into a speculative rent center in Van. Pointing out that the Menzil congregation rented the land in question years ago, local sources said: “They describe it as a service to the public. The people of Çaldıran are promised jobs. They exploit the poverty and unemployment of our people. Sefik Ensari has not even hammered a nail into Çaldıran since the day he was appointed, but he became the owner of a great fortune.”