Public land grabbing in the age of neoliberalism: Legal and political mechanisms of capital accumulation in Turkey’s Green Road Project

Date

2025-12

Author

Mutioğlu Özkesen, Melek

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

38
views

0
downloads

Cite This

This study examines land grabbing in Turkey through the Green Road Project. Introducing the concept of "public land grabbing," it argues that Turkey’s reliance on public lands in these processes and the specific public ownership regime shape the legal, institutional, and political mechanisms of land acquisitions that are realized via megaprojects. Using legal analysis, field studies, media coverage, and archival research, the study highlights three key arguments: (1) Legal amendments facilitate the commercial repurposing of public lands in the name of "public interest"; (2) Public-private partnerships enable access of capital to public lands, fostering a crony form of capital accumulation; and (3) The discourse of “public interest” serves to delegitimize oppositional movements against land grabbing and to fragment the lines of resistance.

Subject Keywords

Green road, public land, megaprojects, land grabbing, public-private partnership

URI

https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/metusd/article/1803014
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118280

Collections

Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Article