Hundreds of citizens defend the forest against a hotel project following a call from the Atatürk City Forest Volunteers: Demand for 'expropriation' from the IMM

Sarıyer, Hacıosmanlocated in Atatürk City Forest against the hotel project planned for the Atatürk City Forest Volunteers issued a call to citizens.

Following the announcement of a tender to build a hotel and tourism facility on a 9-decare plot that includes part of the festival area within the forest, the Forest Volunteers and local residents expressed their outrage and demanded that the area under threat of development be expropriated by the IMM and incorporated into the forest.

"Do Not Touch the Atatürk City Forest"

Hundreds of citizens gathered at the call of the Atatürk City Forest Volunteers to demand an end to attempts to build a hotel in the forest. Nature advocates called for the threatened forest area to be expropriated by the IMM.https://t.co/Xqih7zKtXk

— Northern Forests Defense (@kuzeyormanlari) October 16, 2023

"THE ECOSYSTEM CANNOT WITHSTAND A CONSTRUCTION SITE"

Stating that they have collected nearly two thousand wet signatures to support this struggle, the volunteers announced that they would deliver these signatures to the IMM.

According to information on the Northern Forests Research Association website, for thesection located in the region, Northern Forests Defense spokespersons Cenk Çalışır and Başar Alipaça,representing the Turkish Foresters Association, Saime Kırıt,on behalf of Halkevleri, Hasan Pulat, and CHP Sarıyer District Chair Volkan Yıldız were present. In a press statement attended by Sarıyer CHP Municipal Council Group Deputy Chair Hüseyin Coşkun,it was pointed out that the forest is a single entity and that if a piece is torn away, the entire area will be destroyed and suffer. 

It was emphasized that the area planned for construction is where the stream that feeds the ponds flows. It was stated that countless living creatures, along with the ponds, are under threat, and that the already high traffic and pollution levels in Hacıosman would increase. It was noted that the ecosystem in the forest could not withstand a construction site on its slopes that would also encompass parts of the forest.

"DESTRUCTION SPREADS LIKE CANCER"

The Atatürk City Forest Volunteers stated the following in their press release:

We are volunteers who set out with the intention of stopping all the wrongs that threaten the future of the Atatürk City Forest, and identifying and correcting any disruptions. Unfortunately, we learned that our unique forest, which we have tried to protect with years of effort, is under a new threat of construction. As nature-loving people, we took action with our responsibility to defend the right to life of the forest and all the creatures it hosts. We learned that the General Directorate of Foundations has opened a tender to build a hotel and tourism facility on a 9-acre area located next to the bus stops, which also includes part of the festival area. Opening this area to construction is declaring war on nature. The forest is a whole; any destruction you inflict on a tiny part of it will spread to the whole like cancer. 

"WE WANT THE IMM TO TAKE IT OVER FROM THE VGM AND RETURN IT TO THE FOREST"

The area where construction is planned is at the point where the stream feeding the ponds flows, and the lives of countless creatures within the ponds and the forest are under threat. Furthermore, the Hacıosman traffic, which is already problematic for urban life, will become gridlocked. Pollution in the region will increase due to population and traffic density. The inability to urbanize in harmony with nature has become the country's fundamental problem. The Atatürk City Forest is not a human-designed park area. It is a natural existence of such perfection that humans could not design it. Our only duty as humans is to protect all forest lands by observing their integrity and naturalness. This is our responsibility as human beings. First and foremost, they must abandon the project and not lead to such a massacre.