Attorney Onur Cingil announces: Validebağ remains a 'Grove'
A new development has occurred in the years-long debate over the zoning of Validebağ Grove. Attorney Onur Cingil announced that the court has found the decision of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to be unlawful.
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The debates over Validebağ Grove continue. Environmentalists had taken the legal battle to court regarding the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change's decision to lower the conservation status of a specific section of the grove. The Istanbul 3rd Administrative Court ruled that there was no public interest in the ministry's decision and that it was not in accordance with the law.
The court's decision was announced by Onur Cingil, the lawyer for the Validebağ Volunteers. In a post on his social media account, Cingil wrote:
“I would like to announce with great happiness to the public that the lawsuit we filed against the decision of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change—which destroyed the 'integrity' of the 1st Degree Natural Protected Area and lowered the conservation status of a specific section of the Grove with a 'fabricated concept'—has been concluded in our favor. Thus, another attack on the Grove has been thwarted, and the 'integrity' of the Grove as a 1st Degree Natural Protected Area has been preserved for the entire 360 decares. Validebağ is a Grove; it has remained a Grove 'ONCE AGAIN'.”