The Kadıköy Waterfront project

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On September 6, 2025, I wrote an article in 12Punto titled “Protecting Caferağa.” In the neighborhood where I live, there was a plan to build a luxury residential complex on a large property allocated for public use, which included green space, a family health center, a mosque, and a neighborhood headman's office (muhtarlık).

Thanks to the actions, awareness campaigns, and struggle led by our esteemed Caferağa Neighborhood Headman, Hanife Dağıstanlı, and the pressure exerted by local government and NGOs, this project has been thwarted for the time being.

Of course, the law has the final say, but one must not forget this: an organized public has the power to influence any decision-making mechanism.

About 6 months later, we are facing another project in the Kadıköy district. This time, the subject is a large landfill area located at the Kadıköy Waterfront. This area, which was filled in the mid-1990s as a reserve area for the İSKİ wastewater treatment plant located in Mühürdar, is currently being used as a parking lot. Or rather, it was being used until last month. It is currently vacated.

I will not recount the administrative and legal history of the event here. The institutions, decisions, and legislation cited in such articles are difficult for many readers to follow and evaluate in their entirety. For this reason, I would like to explain it as briefly as possible.

Multiple public institutions are stakeholders in this event. I will not refrain from saying this: unfortunately, regardless of whether they are in government or opposition, or in the bureaucracy, there are not a few who fail to do their part or who act without regard for the public interest.

The area in question should actually be used as a biological treatment plant for the wastewater of 4 districts: Kadıköy, Üsküdar, Ataşehir, and Maltepe. The Sea of Marmara is an inland sea, and approximately 30 million people live around it. Turkey's major industrial facilities are also in this region. The Sea of Marmara is already heavily exposed to human-induced pollution. Let us remember the mucilage problem that occurred a few years ago.

The use of this area in the waterfront region for a biological treatment plant is mandatory in terms of urban planning, environmental, and public health principles. Another very important issue we must not forget is that the region carries an earthquake risk. If the discussed project is implemented, it will require massive construction, and the extent to which this structure/structures will be affected by a potential earthquake is also a major question mark.

The situation is as I have described above.

THE RIGHT ARGUMENT LEADS TO THE RESULT

I think the part that we can call the crux of the matter begins here; the moment the discussion is conducted on the axis of a mosque, we move away from the essence. Whether with good intentions or sometimes deliberately, discussing the issue through the mosque-parking lot debate distracts us from the real problem in the background.

The moment your reason for opposing this project is “there is no need for a mosque, but there is for a parking lot,” you fall into error in two respects. First, the project also includes a parking area. And with a higher capacity than the current one, at that.

Second, from the perspective of those who defend the project, you have brought the issue to a place that is extremely inappropriate but, to put it bluntly, unfortunately suitable for exploitation. The moment they hear the rhetoric that “there are those who oppose the construction of a mosque,” the number of those who will defend the project in advance without seeing the need to delve into the essence of the matter is by no means small.

When defending the public interest, our cities, and nature, it is essential that we base our arguments on science and reason. If we can convey the public interest in the right language, it will be easier for our citizens to grasp the issue and not fall for demagoguery.

You can listen to the statements of Caferağa Neighborhood Headman Hanife Dağıstanlı on the subject at the addresses below:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NdrWBedRRrpDf10fXPf0f?si=iXs0iCTLTVmj65N7joP0Ig

https://apacikradyo.com.tr/podcast/acik-mimarlik/kadikoy-rihtim-dolgu-alaninda-guncel-durum