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Title (English)

Places of Worship in Turkey (The Legal Status of Mosques and Property Rights)

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Script / Post Text (English, full version)

This issue is quite complex from the perspective of both Islamic Law (Waqf Law) and modern Civil Law. The question you are asking – “Who should receive this money?” – reveals a serious gap between conscience and the current legal framework.[2][5][3]

We can clarify the situation under the following headings:

1. Legally speaking: Who is the owner of the property?

In Türkiye, once a piece of land (whether a cemetery or an empty plot) is donated or transferred “for the construction of a mosque”, that property is no longer considered private property of an individual or a family.[6][7][2]

• Transformation into waqf (endowment): If the donors (for example, the grandparents of today’s heirs) executed a waqf deed and transferred the land, ownership passes to that Waqf or, in many modern cases, to the General Directorate of Foundations as the administrator of the waqf property.[2][8]
• Right to rental income: Legally, the grandchildren of the original donors do not have a right to collect rent from the shops located under the mosque, because the ownership is no longer with them. The rent is collected by the Association for Building and Sustaining the Mosque or, depending on the title and allocation, by the General Directorate of Foundations or the Treasury/Diyanet administration.[9][10][11][1][12]

2. Are there people pretending to be “real owners” of the property?

When we are talking about extremely high rental amounts (such as 100,000 – 200,000 USD per month), we often find the following structures behind the scenes:

• Mosque associations: Many of the shops located under mosques are leased out by local associations that originally undertook the construction of the mosque. Members of long‑established local families may sit on the boards of these associations, but this makes them managers, not legal “owners” in the strict property‑law sense.[1][13]
• Foundations (waqf entities): If the mosque land belongs to an old (mazbut) waqf, the rent is collected directly by the state through the General Directorate of Foundations, and is supposed to be used for purposes defined in the waqf and by public‑law rules.[11][8]

3. Can the grandchildren who signed documents claim any legal rights?

Here we come to a critical detail: If, at the time of donation, the grandparents had a “conditional donation” or a specific condition recorded in the title deed (for example: “This place shall be used only for worship and not for commercial purposes”), then the grandchildren may in theory file a lawsuit today.[6][14][2]

• Breach of condition: If shops have been built under the mosque and the area has been converted into commercial premises, the original condition has arguably been violated. In that case, the grandchildren may file a “cancellation and re‑registration” (tapu annulment and re‑registration) lawsuit to request that the property be returned to them, or they may seek enforcement of the original condition.[6][14]
• However, these legal processes are very demanding and lengthy in practice. Courts will look at the exact wording of the deed or waqf document, the way the property has been used over time, the existence of any public interest, and acquired rights. Because of this, the outcome is uncertain and the burden on the family is heavy.[6][14][3][4]

4. The moral and religious weight of building commercial units over cemeteries

As you pointed out, removing graves, disturbing human remains, and building shops or commercial premises over former cemeteries is both a cultural destruction and a major subject of religious debate.[15][5][16][17]

• In central districts like Maltepe and similar urban areas, the burial sites of former residents – whether British, Levantine, or Muslim families – have often been sacrificed to land value and rent‑seeking, which is one of the darkest sides of urban transformation.[18][16][17]
• If signatures were taken from the families: These signatures were most likely collected in the name of “public interest” or “mosque construction”. If, at the time of signing, it was not clearly explained that huge commercial units or expensive shops would be built underneath, there may be an element of misrepresentation or irregularity involved.[1][3][4]

In summary

Under the current system, this money is not legally collected by the grandchildren of the donors, but by the association managing the mosque, the waqf administration, or a state institution. However, in the specific situation you describe – a shop or mall built over a former cemetery and very high commercial income generated from that place – the main issue is not only legal rights, but also a profound ethical and spiritual debt towards the people whose graves and memories were displaced.[9][10][15][1][5]

If any written agreement, deed, or waqf document was signed when the land was handed over, the most reasonable course of action is to have those documents examined in detail by a qualified lawyer who understands both property law and waqf law, and then decide on possible legal steps in light of that professional advice.[6][14][1][3]

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