Ormana’s ‘buttoned houses’ face demolition due to planning dispute

ANTALYA

In Ormana, a historic village in the southwestern coastal city of Antalya’s İbradı district, local authorities have issued demolition orders for some of the historic "buttoned houses" due to zoning plan errors.

Standing out as a unique cultural and natural destination and welcoming around 200,000 tourists annually, Ormana earned a spot on the "Best Tourism Villages 2024" list by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

However, a conservation-oriented zoning plan from 2014 has prompted a crisis in the rural tourism hotspot, as many historical buttoned houses were left out of the plan, mistakenly designated as public spaces such as markets, places of worship or police stations.

This resulted in the demolition orders for these houses, despite operating as boutique hotels or restaurants at present.

Despite 300 formal objections from residents, authorities failed to correct such zoning mistakes, according to Tolga Özgüven, a local who played a key role in restoring the village’s first boutique hotel.

Although a revision process began in 2019, due to missing approvals from government institutions, the issue remains unresolved for six years. As a result, about 90 percent of the village's historic buttoned houses face the possibility of being demolished, Özgüven noted.

Local tourism operator Hilmi Bigen, on the other hand, noted that many businesses have also been forced to shut down due to troubles over the zoning plan, negatively impacting tourism.

“Tourists can no longer come because many businesses have shut down. Ormana, known as a peaceful village, has lost its tranquility due to this crisis,” he said, urging the authorities to reopen the closed businesses.

Tour operators from nearby regions like Alanya and Manavgat have also been affected due to the crisis. Yavuz Sayan, a tour guide, explained that his group was left without a place to eat because many restaurants had been forced to close.

Despite growing pressure, local authorities have not yet made an official statement on the matter.