OGM responds to claims that hotels are being built on burned forest areas

The General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has issued a statement regarding claims that "hotels are being built on burned forest areas."

The statement recalled that the Güvercinlik Bay in Milas, Muğla, was declared a tourism center in 1987, and noted that a 42-hectare forest area in this region was allocated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1991.

The statement indicated that in 2021, the parts of the area in question that were damaged in the 2007 and 2021 forest fires were canceled, and the allocation continues on a 27-hectare area.

HOTELS WERE BUILT ON THE ALLOCATED AREAS

The statement, which reported that the "La Blanche," "Titanic," and "Lujo" hotels were built on these allocated areas, included the following:

''In the 2007 forest fire in Güvercinlik, 223 hectares of land were damaged. A 2.9-hectare portion within the 8.4-hectare area allocated for the Lujo Hotel was affected by the fire. The areas where the Titanic and La Blanche hotels are located were not affected by the fire. As can be seen from the chronology, the allocation of the area to the hotels was made before the fire. The claims that burned areas were opened for zoning or that hotels were built on them do not reflect the truth. In accordance with the provision in Article 169 of the Constitution, 'New forests are grown in place of burned forests,' burned forest areas are being reforested. The work carried out in the burned areas is also shared with the public."