İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Files Second Lawsuit Against Canal İstanbul

The Metropolitan Municipality of İstanbul has filed a second lawsuit against Canal İstanbul project on the ground that it will cause irreversible damages in the event that the Change of Environmental Plan is put into effect.

İstanbul

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The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) has filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and requested a stay of execution for the Change of Environmental Plan of Canal İstanbul project.

Appealing to the İstanbul 2nd Administrative Court, the İMM has also requested execution of hearings, cancellation of the project and a stay of execution for the rejection of its objection dated January 27, 2020.

While the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for Canal İstanbul was still underway, the Ministry changed its 1 to 100,000 Scale Environmental Plan for the "Yenişehir" (New City) to be constructed around the project on December 30, 2019.

In the petition of the IMM submitted to the Administrative Court, the legal justification of the lawsuit has been explained briefly as follows:

"The Code of Administrative Procedure stipulates that a ruling of stay of execution shall be given on the condition that the administrative action in question is openly against the law and that it will cause irreversible damage in the event of its execution.

"The change in plan, the matter in dispute here, is openly against the law. If it is put into practice, it will inflict irreversible ecologic, meteorological and geostrategic damages on İstanbul and our country."

'It is against the Constitution, public good...'

The requests for the stay of execution and cancellation of the project have been justified in the petition under the following chapters:

It is against the Article 102 of the Presidential Decree no. 1, it is deprived of any legal basis.
It has no legal grounds under the Article 6 of the Law 6306 on the Transformation of Disaster-Prone Areas.
It is against the Municipal Law no. 5393 and, therefore, against the Constitution.
As the action pertaining to the Ministry's approval for the plan change does not aim to form a "reserved construction site" having the characteristics of a "new residential area" as foreseen by the Law no. 6306, it does not aim to fulfill the objectives foreseen by the Law.
It is against the Regional Plan of İstanbul dated 30.12.2014.
It is against the Spatial Planning Construction Bylaw.
Decisions with no legal grounds were taken about the plan change in dispute without evaluating the objectives of the 1 to 100,000 Scale Environmental Plan dated 15.06.2019 and its applicability.
In the preparation phase of the plan change, the opinions of the relevant institutions and organizations as to the plan were not taken.
It is against the provisions of the law no. 2560 in terms of drinking water basins.
The plan change in dispute is against the international conventions, to which Turkey is a party.
It harbors contradictions to the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the relevant legal regulation.
It is against public good, rules of planning and principles of urbanization.

A lawsuit was also filed against positive EIA report

The Change of the 1 to 100,000 Scale Environmental Plan of Reserved Construction Site of European Side of İstanbul was approved on December 23, 2019 as per the the Article 6 of the Law 6306 on the Transformation of Disaster-Prone Areas and the Article 102 of the Presidential Decree no. 1.

It was shared with the public in an official statement by the Governor's Office Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization on January 2.

With the same announcement, it was also indicated that the plan would be open for evaluations and objections for 30 days as of December 30, 2019. The İMM objected to the plan on January 27; however, it was tacitly rejected.

The İMM also filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization on February 13 and requested the cancellation of the positive EIA report and a stay of execution.

Canal İstanbul project

PPresident and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement in 2011, when he was still the Prime Minister.

In his speech, he mentioned "a new İstanbul" objective. Presented as a "crazy project", the plan referred to 'Canal İstanbul' for the first time.

What is in the 'crazy project'?

The basic information as to the project was shared with the public at a press conference in Haliç Congress Center in 2011. The plan foresaw an artificial sea-level waterway that would connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The most important aspect of the project was the integration of transportation. The construction of 3rd Bosphorus bridge foreseen by the project has been completed.

In May 2016, 32 articles of 20 laws were amended. An additional article added to the Pasture Law has paved the way for the region's zoning for construction.

With another amendment introduced to the law, it has been understood that the access roads to the Canal İstanbul will be toll roads.

Ahmet Arslan, the then Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications, announced the route of the project in 2018. He said that the canal would form an artificial waterway from the Black Sea to Marmara Sea, covering 45 kilometers from Küçükçekmece Lake through Küçükçekmece-Sazlıdere-Durusu corridor.

The process of Environmental Impact Assessment

The Board of Inspection and Survey of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report of the Canal İstanbul project on December 23, 2019.

Accordingly, the report was presented to the public at the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and İstanbul Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization for 10 days. The citizens submitted petitions of objection against the project within this period.

On January 17, 2020, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum announced that they approved the EIA report of Canal İstanbul.

(HA/SD)