Turkey’s Council of State rules ‘no public building shall be built’ on Atatürk Forest Farm
* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - File
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The execution of the resolution issued by the Cultural Heritage Preservation Supreme Board (KVKYK) and underpinning the construction of the Presidential Complex on Atatürk Forest Farm (AOÇ) has been halted by the Council of State Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers.
As reported by Sefa Uyar from Cumhuriyet newspaper, with the resolution of the KVKYK issued on January 16, 2014, "public service structures" were excluded from the "constructional and physical practices" that could not be undertaken in culturally protected areas.
The Council of State revoked the resolution based on which the Presidential Complex was built in the capital city of Ankara. In response to this, with a resolution issued in March 2021, the KVKYK replaced the expression "public service structures" with "official institution structures".
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ankara MP Levent Gök, via his attorney Okay Saday, applied to the Council of State and demanded that the related amendment be repealed and its execution be halted. However, the 6th Chamber of the Council rejected this request.
In response to this, CHP's Gök took the issue to the Council of State Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers.
The Plenary Session has overturned the ruling of the 6th Chamber of the Council of State, halting the execution of the related provision with the votes of seven members against six. It has concluded that the expression of "official institution structures" do not comply with the law and its execution will lead to irreparable harm in the event that it continues.
Commenting on the ruling, CHP's Gök has said, "The Presidency is in the position of an occupier. It should not sit there even for a day."
What happened in Atatürk Forest Farm?
The Forest Farm was established in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as a private farm. One year before his passing in 1938, he wrote his last will and donated the farm to the Treasury, including all agricultural enterprises, estates and assets within the boundaries of the Farm.
What protected the Atatürk Forest Farm till 2006 was the fact that it was declared a protected area.
In 1992, the Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board declared the farm a "natural and historical protected area." In 1998, the Atatürk Forest Farm was recognized as a first-degree protected area.
In 2011, some parts of Atatürk Forest Farm were stripped of its "protected area status" and the foundations of "Presidential Complex" were laid there.
The construction of the building began in 2013. On March 4, 2014, the Council of State gave a decision of stay of execution for the construction of the building. After Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), was elected the President in August 2014, it was announced that the building would be used as a Presidential complex.
In 2015, the Council of State Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers unanimously dismissed the resolution of the Preservation Board making way for the construction of the Presidential complex in the protected zone, once again confirming that the construction was unlawful. However, the construction was completed despite these local and high court rulings.
Shortly afterwards, the zoo inside the Farm was also closed and the construction of the then Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Melih Gökçek's controversial Ankapark project started.
Lastly, a 555-thousand square meter area has been allocated to the TEBA foundation, which established the Medipol group, once owned by Fahrettin Koca, the current Minister of Health of Turkey. (RT/SD)