IT WILL be a day long remembered for the visit of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Altinkum - but for victims of a scandalous ‘property fraud’ it marked one of their last in the resort.

While the opening of the £50 million Didim Marina was marked with much pomp, ceremony and fireworks, investors who have found their properties sold from under their feet were mustering their own rearguard action amid much anger, tears, despair and bitterness.

Margaret Macdonald, from Carrickfergus, in Northern Ireland, along with Danish couple Grete and Frede Nordahl spoke for all those who have lost properties because of tapu fraud.

They called on Mr Erdogan to listen to their pleas, radically alter the legislation, offer more protection for foreigner investors and crackdown on those that stand behind the crimes of tapu fraud.



They also embarked on a minor mission to handout leaflets detailing the lack of rights for property investors to foreign tourists thinking of buying in Turkey.

Margaret and the Nordahls are among upwards of 10 foreigners whose apartments at Safir Apartments, in Altinkum, were seized from debt-riddled developer Altan Çetin, who had been sunk by loans of over £200,000.

The majority of the apartments were auctioned off on July 17 and August 7 without the foreigners’ knowledge as the title deeds had not been changed over from Cetin to the buyers who have been strung along with excuses for the last four years.

The apartments, which were bought for between £21, 000 and £40,000 were auctioned off for as little as £9,200 – a fraction of the market value.

Fighting tears, Mrs MacDonald (47), a Barnado’s project co-ordinator, related how she had been forced to fly back to Turkey in a bid to sell off the last remaining bits of furniture during a 15-day window after the auction on August 7.

She invested £24,000 in a three-bed apartment and enjoyed four years of holidays at Safir before things radically turned when she along with other heard that the properties were being sold off.

She said: “It was my golden nest egg, something I had invested after much research. But that is now turned into a nightmare. I feel stupid and angry, sad and full of tears because of the fact it has been taken off me.”

Her despair and anger has also been overshadowed by a close relative’s serious illness in Northern Ireland. She said: “I should not be in Turkey wasting energy on fighting for the property I bought five years ago. “I have had many sleepless nights since hearing that property was auctioned off. I am a normally happy-go-lucky person but this has been devastating. It was my perfect little place but the dream is gone. I don’t want anything to do with Turkey when I leave this country.” In her desire to do ‘something positive’ she printed off a number of  leaflets outlining the pitfalls of a ‘perfect sale’ and with the aid of the Nordahls handed them out to boat tripprs returning from a day excursion. She was able to discuss their plight with a number of people.

Afterwards she said: “I feel a bit better, but the anger and hurt remains and probably never will leave. Even though I do not think Cetin is an evil man, there are still many questions that have to be answered.”

Cetin has now been transferred to a prison in Denizli six hours away where he awaits charges on a separate fraud case.

Mrs MacDonald is scheduled to fly out Monday – yet another victim crushed and destroyed by an unscrupulous property developer.

The Nordahls, speaking through their daughter-in-law Vicky Mathiesen, from Horsens, in Denmark, said: “We are all very angry, very hurt and disappointed at the way we have been treated.

“We are very despondent and are angry that we, along with the other victims, that we have lost our apartments. We feel that there are not enough rights and protection of foreigners in Turkey.”