The Irish, alarmed by the predictions of a report on global warming released by the UN in February, have begun buying real estate in the Kuşadası district of İzmir province, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Settlements.

Data recently released by the ministry's Land Registry Directorate (TKM) indicate that the Irish began purchasing real estate in Turkey in large numbers following the release of the UN climate report, which predicted a significant part of Ireland would be flooded by the melting of icecaps in Antarctica. The ministry's figures illustrate that the number of Irish people buying real estate in Kuşadası has doubled in the last three years and that the district has almost turned into a small Irish village. There are more than 10,000 Irish residents in Kuşadası and 2,000 others have applied to the TKM to purchase property in the district, according to ministry data.

Officials from the TKM note that the number of Irish who had purchased real estate in Kuşadası was far below 1,000 in 2003 but that this figure has spiked since then. "There has been a great increase in the number of Irish settling and buying real estate in Kuşadası in the last few years. Retired Irish people who don't want to forfeit their right to a pension [by receiving resident status in another country] stay in Turkey on tourist visas," said the officials, adding that the number of Irish settling in Turkey may reach 100,000 as soon as the pension system at home is amended.

The officials emphasized that Irish people prefer Kuşadası for its favorable climate and because the district is home to Meryemana, the House of the Virgin Mary, in Ephesus, to which Catholics attach great importance. "The British have ranked first in real estate purchases across Turkey for the past few years, followed by the Germans, Dutch, Danes, Norwegians and Greeks. Foreigners mostly prefer the regions of Alanya, Fethiye, Didim, Bodrum, Kuşadası and Ürgüp," they said.

More than 41,000 foreigners were reported to have purchased some 32,000 properties in Antalya, İzmir and Muğla as of January 2007. Antalya ranks the first in terms of real estate sold to foreigners, with 14,610 properties, and is followed by 10,695 in İstanbul, 8,251 in Muğla, 5,839 in Aydın, 4,572 in İzmir, 4,310 in Bursa, 3,852 in Mersin, 1,034 in Ankara and 1,013 in Gaziantep.

Source: Today's Zaman