Housing Developers Leave Iran For Turkey, Georgia Amid Deteriorating Economy
Iran's Real Estate Consultants Association says a significant number of housing developers have migrated to Turkey and Georgia, warning of the impact on the local economy.
Iran's Real Estate Consultants Association says a significant number of housing developers have migrated to Turkey and Georgia, warning of the impact on the local economy.
“The more we boost the property market of foreign countries, the same amount of dollars will leave our country, and this is very dangerous for our country in the future,” Vice President of the Association, Davoud Beiginejad, said on Sunday.
The economic situation in Iran has been deteriorating for some time, with high inflation, a weak currency, and a lack of investment opportunities. Housing developers, who rely on the construction industry for their livelihood, have been hit particularly hard. With no end in sight to the economic crisis, many developers are looking for greener pastures abroad.
On the contrary, official figures in Turkey indicate a boost to the construction industry as well as rising sales of housing to foreign citizens.
Despite the strong earthquake of February this year in Turkey, which killed more than 50,000, during the first five months of this year, 16,779 residential units were sold to foreign citizens, 14 percent of whom were Iranians.
The lack of social and economic opportunities in the country has left many feeling disconnected and isolated, causing many to look for a better life elsewhere.
The state broadcaster last week gained full control over content shown by privately-owned streaming services based on a decision taken by Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolution Council.
Some filmmakers and actors have warned that the full control of the state broadcaster (IRIB) over these services could end the career of actors and filmmakers who have long been banned from the state broadcaster.
IRIB is tightly controlled by the office of Iran’s authoritarian ruler Ali Khamenei and has been losing its audience with its heavy religious programming and heavily censored news. Critics say it is nothing but a propaganda tool with hefty government subsidies and no accountability.
Streaming services such as Filimo, an online video on demand (VOD) service like Netflix, have gained great popularity in Iran where there are no privately-owned television networks. These services provided an opportunity for independent and sometimes dissident filmmakers and artists to showcase their work.
The head of the state broadcaster (IRIB), hardliner Payman Jebelli, in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi in January demanded that Filimo be blocked on the internet.
As evidence of Filimo’s liability, Jebelli cited the screening of the series Collapse (Fall). Due to the fact that one of its main actors, Hamid Farrokhnezhad, left Iran around the same time to join the opposition, backing a revolution and the return of the former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, to Iran.
Jebelli on Wednesday said his organization was compiling regulations to supervise the work of streaming services and actors.
The increase in popularity of such services and satellite TV has caused the IRIB (the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization) to dramatically lose its viewership due to its political and cultural censorship. The head of the massive organization that employs around 40,000 people is appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The council’s decision which was adopted in a meeting presided over by President Ebrahim Raisi on June 20 allows the IRIB to impose its own level of censorship on films or music, broadcast by these services and even prevent the films by filmmakers and actors that it does not approve of from being shown by these streaming services.
Until now, the ministry of Islamic guidance and culture was responsible for vetting the content, whether film or other programs as well as music, streamed by privately-owned streaming platforms in collaboration with SATRA (the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority), which is affiliated to IRIB.
Critics argued that SATRA’s involvement was not lawful.
The council itself is the highest body for making policies and decisions in connection with cultural, educational and research activities within the framework of the general policies of the system and its decisions are legally binding. Most of the council’s members are appointed by Khamenei.
In June, the government film watchdog warned producers that their films could be banned if they hired actresses who have removed their hijab in public in support of the anti-compulsory hijab movement and anti-government protests. Several members of the entertainment industry have also suffered punishments including bank account freezes and flight bans.
Protests erupted in Iran in September 2022 after Mahsa Amini, a young woman was arrested in the street by the notorious ‘morality police’ and died in hospital after allegedly having received a fatal blow to her head at the time of her arrest.
Ahmad Bakhshayesh speaking to Rouydad24, a relatively independent website in Tehran said that "Any country that has tensions in its relations with the United States cannot have a serious presence in the world market."
The new rhetoric by some regime insiders appears to be a justification for the Islamic Republic's sudden turn to a limited rapprochement with the United States that is presumably intended to relieve the government from economic pressures of US sanctions.
Washington and Tehran are reportedly in contact to explore a limited unofficial deal to reduce tensions. Iran would promise not to enrich uranium beyond the 60-percent level in exchange for release of its frozen funds abroad that could be as high as $20 billion.
Iran’s annual inflation rate has risen close to 70 percent and its currency has lost 50 percent of its value in the past year.
The conservative politician reiterated: "Harnessing the high rate of inflation requires time and expecting a quick solution to the country's economic problems is unrealistic."
He probably made the statement not to create exaggerated hope among Iranians about the outcome of the limited diplomatic exchanges between Tehran and Washington.
However, not everyone in Iran speaks softly about the West and particularly the United States. "Bad cops" such as IRGC aerospace commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh are still around. Hajizadeh told IRGC-linked Fars News Agency on Thursday: "We have now access to all the sophisticated technologies in the area of defense industry."
This could potentially include the know-how to make a nuclear bomb. Highlighting Iran's dual policy, Hajizadeh said that despite the breakthrough in foreign relations including the restoration of ties with Saudi Arabia, it is meaningful that President Ebrahim Raisi was personally present at the ceremony for showcasing Iran's "hypersonic" Fattah missile.
Welcoming diplomacy, Bakhshayesh maintained that to attract foreign investments, Iran should take certain steps. He did not elaborate, but the preconditions are presumably playing according to the rules of international relations, limiting uranium enrichment, not sponsoring international terrorism, and stopping regional ambitions and weapons development among other things.
Nonetheless, he said, even if measures are taken, it takes at least two to three years before prices begin to come down in the Iranian market.
In another attempt to justify the talks with Washington, Bakhshayesh said Iran used to have trade and investments by other countries including the United Kingdom and Italy. He said although the Raisi administration is trying to improve ties with Iran's neighbors, that is nothing to be compared with the benefits of having trade relations with the West.
He said although countries such as Saudi Arabia are interested in investment in Iran, we should note that Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar are Iran's rivals in the area of exporting oil, so it is in their interest that Iran remains under US sanctions.
Meanwhile, Jomhouri Eslami, the only conservative newspaper that at times criticizes the President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, wrote Thursday that it is a miracle hardliners are suddenly in favor of talks with the United States, while they used call the previous government a traitor for advocating diplomacy.
The daily pointed out that "Even those who insisted that no one should be allowed to talk about negotiating with the United States following the killing of former IRGC Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, now support the negotiations."
"Thank God that everybody in Iran has returned to the realm of rationality and thinks in terms of the country's national interests."
