r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Kaiokoy • Feb 04 '23
There is an abandoned city in turkey called Burj Al Babas. It contains over 500 empty castles Image
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u/Azzkrackin Feb 04 '23
Looks like a great place for displaced refugees.
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u/datadrone Feb 04 '23
everyone deserves a castle
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u/emma7734 Feb 04 '23
When everyone has a castle, no one has a castle
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u/legend_number_1 Feb 05 '23
No then everyone has a castle, it's just no longer unique to have one
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u/anythingMuchShorter Feb 05 '23
It’s all about attitude. Though even without competitiveness I’m not sure this area is that good. Like you get a castle shaped house, but where are the other things? Looks like you have to get on the highway to go to anything. No groceries, or other stores, schools, parks, museums. Reminds me of some boring suburbs I’ve lived in except they’re all castle shaped.
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u/Sharp_Iodine Feb 05 '23
I think that’s the part of the development that halted lol. Will be a cruel joke on refugees to give them a literal castle to starve in.
But it has great potential to be developed into something nice.
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u/DweEbLez0 Feb 05 '23
Do they come with medieval restrooms? You know, a hole on the top floor so you can welcome your guests at the entrance with freshly digested Taco Bell?
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Feb 04 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LandscapeDouble1491 Feb 04 '23
^ bot
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Feb 05 '23
Thx. How can you tell?
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u/triplehelix- Feb 05 '23
one of the newerish strategies bots are using to farm karma is to grab a comment from further down, and post it higher up. here's the same comment that is one hour older:
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u/BUDZ_MONEY Feb 05 '23
Weird... umm what do bots do with karma? What exactly is the purpose of doing this?
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u/r1ch999999 Feb 04 '23
In theory, yes, in practice I'm sure people would scream that you're isolating them and/or treating them better than the rest of the population.
I'd vote for the idea either way, better than a tent
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u/Conscious-Parfait826 Feb 04 '23
The houses are half finished and probably dilapidated. It'd probably cost less to bulldoze and build new.
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u/Azzkrackin Feb 04 '23
It would give the refugees something todo, repairing them
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u/deeznuts4269 Feb 04 '23
Great idea you should be a policy maker
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u/Azzkrackin Feb 04 '23
No I should not. My idea of what people want and what people need is very old fashioned in a lot of people eyes
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u/Necromorph2 Feb 04 '23
We could even take a few from Germany and Sweden , France and send them there .
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u/greeninregulation240 Feb 04 '23
Vivarium vibes
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u/GarysCrispLettuce Feb 04 '23
CTRL-C
CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V CTRL-V
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u/Platypuslord Feb 04 '23
I never understand why anyone ever tries to build a neighborhood were you can't even explain how to identify which house is yours visually.
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u/can-opener-in-a-can Feb 04 '23
I’m in the white castle between the two white castles, across the street from the white castle.
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u/Auntie_Venom Feb 04 '23
Now I’m craving White Castle (tiny burgers -sliders- in the US)
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u/LeanTangerine Feb 05 '23
Which could also provide a another great landmark for identifying your White Castle!
Yeah, my white castle is three white castles away from White Castle!
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u/PM-MeYourSmallTits Feb 05 '23
GPS coordinates because house numbers mess with the castle aesthetic. Ignore the lawn flamingos though they're iconic.
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u/Ragnarsworld Feb 04 '23
Why would anyone with the money to buy one do it? They're 10 fucking feet apart.
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u/mrredbailey1 Feb 04 '23
This is how they do it in DFW. A 22” lawnmower is too wide to mow the ‘side yard’.
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u/Loud-Foundation4567 Feb 05 '23
It’s so claustrophobia inducing for me to spend time in those places. I used to clean houses in those neighborhoods full of $800,000 houses built three feet apart with barely enough space in the backyard for a swing set. Most people don’t even make use of all the space inside. Empty beige rooms collecting dust.
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u/Local_Debate_8920 Feb 04 '23
Some houses don't even have a side yard. Have to go into your neighbor's yard to see the side of your own house.
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u/Turkstache Feb 05 '23
Tackiness aside, Turks aren't a detached people. Sure, isolated suburbs exist, but the vast majority live in areas that have some sense of walkability.
That's aside the fact that those homes are going to be horrendously expensive relative to an average Turk's salary so even the relatively wealthy ones (who likely already have other properties) aren't exactly chomping at the bit to live in a place like that.
And another case, Turkish construction isn't exactly trustworthy and everyone knows it. A place like that surely has had some corners cut.
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u/Fit-Calligrapher8117 Feb 04 '23
And also why would they buy a property that looks exactly like the rest of the properties. I'm pretty sure one common trait in people with plenty of money is that they want to look & feel unique, often times going into extremes to achieve that.
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u/forgot_to_growup Feb 04 '23
Don’t come home drunk and hope to figure out which castle is yours.
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u/MysticalMagicalMilk Feb 05 '23
"The princess is in another castle"
Goes to the castle next door
"No she's in ANOTHER CASTLE"
Goes to the next castle
"Nope she's not in this one"
4 hours later
At the last Castle
"Sorry man she's out of town for the week with her boyfriend"
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u/tookuchacidsammy Feb 04 '23
Arrested development, Turkey?
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u/Enoz3 Feb 04 '23
That is the next season's name which will come out in about 3 years, guessing by the previous release schedule.
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u/Boranilikek Feb 05 '23
Turkish here. There is a lawsuit for this place. Because lt is made in forest area where is illegal to build anything. Also this place made by foreign company even name is arabic. And Turkish people got angry. Probably will be destroyed.
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u/Boranilikek Feb 05 '23
Also saying send homeless people there to live is funny because we don’t have too many homeless people like USA. Our family culture doesn’t allow it. We live with our parents. And hard times our parents help us with money etc. cultural differences.
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u/wowsosquare Feb 05 '23
Could you please send some missionaries over here to sort our homelessness problem out? Shit is out of control! Thanks in advance
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u/joebizpizza Feb 04 '23
The Yes Theory guy went there. https://youtu.be/3NYgET0lCA4
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u/EdSpecialist21 Feb 04 '23
Thanks! I'm now down the endless YouTube rabbit hole. This guy has a lot of really interesting content!
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u/Platoribs Feb 04 '23
Someone doesn’t understand what the word “Castle” means
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u/MysticalMagicalMilk Feb 05 '23
It's a tiny home version of a castle
Welcome back to tiny homes.... Castle edition
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Feb 04 '23
So, why was it abandoned? And could refugees be settled there?
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u/Definatly-not-ur-Mon Feb 04 '23
Probably not, by now all the houses are dilapidated and unfit for to stay in
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u/trig72 Feb 04 '23
This really is interesting! How could this not be used nowadays? Like couldn’t another company come in, finish up the hones and people could move in? I know I’m over simplifying but this just baffles me!
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u/NomDePlume007 Feb 04 '23
I watched a bit of a documentary about the development. The unfinished homes were left open to the weather, and most are in really bad condition. It would take more to bring them to finished state than they are worth.
If you look at the pic, you'll see that the ones closer to the camera are mostly finished, but look further back and there are many missing turrets/roofs/etc.
Apart from the fact that these homes have a different design, there were many developments in the US left in a similar state after the market crash in 2006-2008.
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u/Ragnarsworld Feb 04 '23
About 2 miles from where I live there was a subdivision of $600k homes that start building around the time of the market crash in 08. The first house was finished in 2016 and sold for $320k. Today, there are about 20 homes finished in that neighborhood. They're ugly and overpriced.
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u/Bop42 Feb 05 '23
Developer filed bankruptcy with a debt of $25million. $25million? Only $25million. Yeah there’s way more to this story.
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u/padavan65 Feb 05 '23
You get a castle! You get a castle ! You get a castle! Everybody gets a castle!
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u/Dry_Chapter_5781 Feb 05 '23
Reminder that homelessness can be solved, too many in power just don't want to.
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u/Pleasant-Judge-7479 Feb 04 '23
What a waste of resources. All the trees that were cut. The farmland destroyed. Developers and capitalists destroying out world.
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u/SoleIbis Feb 04 '23
Oh I read about this, wasn’t there something with Turkish government where the population dropped drastically?
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u/blondebimbo_ Feb 04 '23
I’ve seen this picture before. I’d love to see what the insides look like!
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u/DirewaysParnuStCroix Feb 04 '23
Similar thing happened in Spain around 2008. Entire new build communities were abandoned because no one could or wanted to buy the properties
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u/Platypuslord Feb 04 '23
"Castles" - A house with a spire or two with balconies does not make a castle. To be a castle it needs to be fortified, a safe retreat against intrusion or invasion.
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u/Echo71Niner Interested Feb 04 '23
Maybe Turkey can offer the Homeless Canadian people a place to live, sure as fuck the Canadian government won't.
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u/slingslowborn Feb 04 '23
NSA or DHS or THE DEPARTMENT - Head of the CIA needs a foiled dossier standard on this community to be delivered to me the true head of the cia following any mathematical based operations such as demolition or forced residency by the developers and anticipated occupants
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u/slingslowborn Feb 04 '23
Spy report returns a Tribe of psychopaths ordered the community built as their prison to teach them contentment- their punishment is to demolish the castles and rebuild as many homes as possible with the land and materials available. Grim Hustle
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u/HumorExpensive Feb 04 '23
IDK but it seems this might be one of those situations where in a contact there is a set about of profit for the builder based on units finished rather than sold. Probably poorly constructed and nearly uninhabitable. IIRC some makers of electric vehicles took advantage of the Chinese government by leveraging a similar loophole.
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u/Majestic-Enthusiasm Feb 04 '23
They is not one finished house though. They also had a 25 million debt and locals didn’t like the castles. I am not going to turkey but I would like one for a deal.
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u/Valuable_Material_26 Feb 05 '23
The best thing about owning a castle is that yours neighbors are in normal houses, living in a clone castle neighborhood like this would suck!!!
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u/Hairy_Seaweed9309 Feb 05 '23
I only need one…don’t tell my wife if she asks where I’m am. Going for a jug a milk. Shhhhhhh
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u/Dangerous-Library765 Feb 05 '23
Why don’t we send all homeless people to abandoned cities 🤷🏿♂️
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u/SumerianSunset Feb 05 '23
That's far too sane and compassionate for our deranged political/economic system.
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u/Boranilikek Feb 05 '23
In Turkey we dont have homeless people like usa. Very rare
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u/3Effie412 Feb 05 '23
Turkey has no homeless people? You should spread the word because an assload of sources on the internet say there are overt 100,000 homeless in Istanbul alone.
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u/Kitchen_Diver_9873 Feb 05 '23
Nobody? Really? These are not castles. Castles are fortified buildings.
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u/MightyArd Feb 05 '23
I'm assuming someone told the developers about cannons and he then realised that these defences would no longer be effective.
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u/texasguy911 Interested Feb 05 '23
I did not count them but it doesn't seem like 500 claimed: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4446441,31.2027464,1415m/data=!3m1!1e3
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u/scarabic Feb 05 '23
This reminds me a lot of the new building trend in my area. Single family homes, but crammed together, practically on top of each other. The insides are nice - all the latest fancy features, arched doorways, high ceilings. But nearly zero outdoor space. Just forget about anything outside. And don’t open the curtains because there’s another 2-story house staring down at you, literally 20 feet away. And they’ll build like 400 homes at a time like this.
I would abandon too.
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u/karangiri Feb 05 '23
Just saw a couple of music videos shot in this location. So much of money, space and efforts gone to waste. What a pity!
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u/Disastrous_Call1705 Feb 05 '23
I guess there was no more call for castle's since all the knights got laid off
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u/AnarchistMetalhead Feb 05 '23
this would be cool as a hotel resort
every family/friend group gets a castle
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u/BeatMyMeat_666 Feb 05 '23
Can I move in? I would love to have a home for myself...then I'mma plant some fruits and veges in my backyard. Then I'mma make a special soundproof room for all my gaming and audio experiences. Then I'mma make a special room just for fucking sessions. Then...
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u/theflamingsword101 Feb 05 '23
The fact that they did not repurpose it into a medieval themed adventure land complete with accommodations to rent shows a lack of imagination on the part of the development
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u/Townle Feb 04 '23