Court cancels ‘Grand Mosque’ project in İstanbul’s Kadıköy

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The İstanbul 3rd Administrative Court has cancelled the "Grand Mosque" project planned to be constructed in Rıhtım, Kadıköy.

The project was to be undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization upon the request of the Presidency of Religious Affairs.

As reported by Kadıköylife, the court has ruled for the cancellation of the project on the grounds that "it does not have compliance with the law." 

According to the court ruling, a mosque, a traditional water-tank with a fountain (şadırvan), a cultural center and a building for other services as well as an underground car park were planned to be constructed as part of the now-cancelled project in Kadıköy, İstanbul.

What happened?

In 2015, Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs applied to the Directorate General of Spatial Planning affiliated with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. The Presidency requested the construction of a mosque in an area in Moda coast in Kadıköy district in the Anatolian side of İstanbul.

While the area in question was shown as a treatment facility of the İstanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (İSKİ) on the Land Use Plan with the scale 1/5,000, it was being used as a car park.

The name of the mosque to be constructed on the unregistered fill area was determined as "Grand Mosque" and the Ministry sent the project to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) and to the Kadıköy District Municipality to ask for their opinion on the mosque project.

In the request of the Presidency, the name of the mosque was indicated as the "Grand Mosque" and it was foreseen that there would be a library, exhibition and conference hall on the first floor of the religious facility. They were also planning to construct a multi-storey car park on the ground floor.

Lawsuit was filed

The Kadıköy Municipality filed a lawsuit against the project and the Chamber of Architects was also involved in the case.

As part of this lawsuit, the İstanbul 3rd Administrative Court was requested to cancel the project on the grounds of contrariness to law in reference to the decision no. 4963 taken by the İstanbul No. 5 Regional Cultural Heritage Preservation Board on November 9, 2017. (TP/SD)