A hotel, dubbed ‘Twin Towers because of its skyline’ has been sealed yet again by Didim Municipality. The owners deny any wrongdoing.

Didim Maril Hotel changed hands at the beginning of 2023 and was named City Point Hotel. The hotel, which was sealed many times when it was a Maril Hotel, was sealed again on the grounds that it did not have a business or operating license.

Guests staying in 100 rooms at the hotel were moved out during the sealing process and taken elsewhere.

Didim Municipality sealed the hotel because it did not have a working license due to the change of company and title. Municipal Police Director Murat Hacıfettahoğlu informed the hotel officials of the procedures and took the customers out of the hotel.

During the procedures, Didim District Police Department teams took security measures in the region. During the evacuation, there were occasional verbal altercations between the hotel manager Deniz Aktaş and the Police Chief.

The new owner of the hotel, Deniz Aktaş, said that he met with Didim Mayor Deniz Atabay 3 times regarding the hotel’s licensing process.

Deniz Aktaş

Saying that Atabay kept him busy and ignored him during the meetings, Aktaş said, “We applied for a license to Didim Municipality in May, but the municipality quickly rejected it. Following the decision, the municipality sent a notification for the sealing process.

“We also appealed to Aydın 2nd Administrative Court against the notification. The court decided to stay the execution regarding the sealing process.”

Aktaş stated that the Municipality has been stalling the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization for a long time. “When we realized that Didim Municipality would not issue a hotel license, we applied to the Ministry. As an official procedure, the Ministry requested an opinion from Didim Municipality on August 8. However, from that date until the sealing date, the Municipality did not respond to the Ministry’s letter.”

Stating that Aydın Governorship sent a letter to the municipality again last week, Aktaş said: “The Governorship asked the municipality to respond to the letter by October 6. However, the municipality insisted on not responding.

“Even though we have a building registration document, it is registered as a 12-storey hotel, pool and land in the title deed.” “Despite this, they delayed it until yesterday. And as of yesterday, they came to seal the hotel,” he said.

Making a statement to the press after the sealing process, Municipal Police Director Murat Hacıfettahoğlu said, “We carried out this process entirely based on the court decision. They are trying to provoke the incident by saying different things. There is absolutely no such thing.

“We are doing whatever is necessary under the law. Based on the rejection of the continuation decision, today was the most appropriate day, so we did it today.

“In this process, it is the operating authorities that cause the guests to suffer. We are not. “Because this entire process was known and followed by the business officials from beginning to end,” he said.

Stating that he applied to the court to revoke the sealing decision, Aktaş said, “The court may issue a stay of execution at any time. The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization gave Didim Municipality until Friday to respond to the opinion letter.

“If they do not respond, we will get our license from the Ministry,” he said.

It was also learned that hotel guests were placed in a hotel and efforts were made to resolve their grievances.