Legal limbo continues over Basilica Cistern as court freezes eviction order

ISTANBUL

A series of conflicting court rulings has left Istanbul’s historic Basilica Cistern in legal limbo amid a dispute over who has the legal authority to manage the landmark: The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality or the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The Istanbul Regional Administrative Court’s 8th Administrative Chamber has suspended a decision that would have transferred control of the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı) away from the Istanbul Municipality. The ruling also halted, without requiring any financial guarantee, an eviction order issued by the local district governor’s office in early May.

The court sided with the municipality’s appeal and effectively paused the implementation of earlier administrative steps that handed over the site’s management to the Directorate General of Foundations, the state body responsible for overseeing historic religious endowments and heritage properties.

The directorate is currently operating under the authority of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The decision also overturned an earlier lower-court ruling that had refused to suspend the transfer process, sending the case back for further review.

At the center of the dispute is the legal status of the land on which the Basilica Cistern stands. Authorities had recently reclassified the property under state-controlled foundations, arguing that this shift meant the municipality no longer had the right to occupy or manage the site. Based on that interpretation, eviction proceedings were launched.

The latest ruling has effectively frozen that process, leaving the management of one of Istanbul’s most visited historic monuments uncertain as the broader legal battle continues.