CHP holds protest march in Belgrade Forest

The CHP has reacted to the decision to strip the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) of its management authority over the Belgrade Forest. Members of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Organization held a protest march in the Belgrade Forest.

Don't leave your news choices to an algorithm - decide for yourself what you read. Add 12punto to your preferred sources!

CHP holds protest march in Belgrade Forest

CHP members have reacted to the decision to strip the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) of its management authority over the Belgrade Forest and transfer it to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Protesting the decision, CHP members held a march in the Belgrade Forest.

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik made the following statement there:

“The Belgrade Forest is the lungs of Istanbul. The Belgrade Forest is of vital importance for our city's ecosystem, water resources, and biodiversity. This forest is not just about trees. It is a living space where Istanbulites find peace, embrace nature, and which we must leave as a legacy to future generations. The Belgrade Forest is one of the most important natural heritages not only of Istanbul but of Turkey. As we all know, this unique forested area, which was operated by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, was taken from the IMM in a dawn operation, and now they want to change its status to a national park. In this process, the will of the people and the right of local governments to have a say have been ignored. The concerns that the intention behind the attempt to change its status to a national park is not to protect these areas but to open them up to development are creating deep discomfort in society. We have seen many times before that areas transferred under the pretext of protection have been surrendered to concrete by the AK Party government. We are worried about the Belgrade Forest. We are worried that the government, with its insatiable hunger for rent, has now set its sights on the lungs of Istanbul, the Belgrade Forest. We are worried about the effort to change the status of the Belgrade Forest from a conservation forest to a national park. Because areas granted national park status are easily opened to construction with ministerial permission.

'GREEN SPACE CANNOT BE ENTRUSTED TO A GREEN SPACE KILLER'

We know that forested areas in Uludağ, Kızılcahamam, and Marmaris, which were converted to national park status in the past, have been turned into concrete. Looking at the past practices of the political power, who can guarantee us that the Belgrade Forest, one of the last remaining green spaces in Istanbul, will be protected? Will the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, which turned Lake Salda into a 'nation's garden,' give us a guarantee? Will the government, which insists on a concrete canal at the expense of destroying Istanbul just for the sake of rent, give us a guarantee that the Belgrade Forest will be protected? Will the construction barons who build shopping malls on earthquake assembly areas in Istanbul while we are face-to-face with the danger of an earthquake at any moment give us a guarantee? Will those who open Istanbul's military areas to development give us a guarantee? We are facing a government that has failed in protecting green spaces. A green space cannot be entrusted to a green space killer. No one entrusts their child to a killer. The Belgrade Forest is the lungs of Istanbul and must be protected by the guardians of Istanbul. The Belgrade Forest must be transferred back to the metropolitan municipality. It should not be forgotten that every intervention in nature is an intervention against humanity. As the CHP, we are determined to the end in our struggle to protect nature and the environment. Because nature is not a tool for rent, it is life itself. We will follow this process together with our people so that the Belgrade Forest, which is the breath of Istanbul, is not sacrificed to rent-seeking projects.”

News Source: 12punto