Police, heavy machinery enter green space in İstanbul's Göktürk

"Don't touch my green."

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Heavy machinery and riot police entered the green areas in the Kemerköy part of the Göktürk district in İstanbul early today (October 31). Residents gathered at the entrance gate to prevent the construction machinery.

The plan is to build villas and residences on a 224,000 square-meter area, which will cost 1.9 billion lira (~102 million US dollars). The site was transferred to the state-owned Ziraat Bank in return for the loan debts of Demirören Holding, a business group with close ties to the government. Ziraat Bank cooperates with Emlak Konut and contracted to Özyazıcı İnşaat in Istanbul.

While the excavation work in the green area unfolded, the İstanbul 4th Administrative Court ruled that work should be stopped. The district governor objected to the decision, and the works resumed despite the ongoing lawsuit.

The project created tensions amongst various activist groups and local residents. The Keep Green Initiative wrote in a statement: "While our legal process was going on, Ziraat Bank and Emlak GYO tendered our green areas to contractors. The contractor company, Ziraat Bank and Emlak GYO officials, who won the tender, are trying to unlawfully seize our green space while our lawsuits continue.
The public and police forces, who are supposed to protect our rights, are against us in this unlawful process. They stand against us in the process. We are resisting this unlawfulness." (TY/WM/VK)