Over 3,000 hectares of land removed from forest boundaries in 6 years

While thousands of hectares of land have been removed from forest boundaries in Turkey since 2018 in accordance with Article 16 added to the Forest Law, no clear information is provided regarding the intended use of these areas.

According to the report by Müzeyyen Yüce in Artıgerçek, a new addition was made the other day to these decisions, which have been implemented many times to date. With the Presidential decree dated June 28 published in the Official Gazette, 9 thousand square meters in Artvin, 17 thousand in Bitlis, 286 thousand in İzmir, and 181 thousand 637 in Istanbul—a total of 493 thousand (49 hectares) square meters of land—were removed from forest status.

Thus, since 2018, that is, over the past six years, approximately 4 thousand hectares of land in numerous cities, including Istanbul, İzmir, Antalya, Muğla, and Artvin, have been removed from forest boundaries by applying the aforementioned article.

According to experts, removing these areas from forest boundaries serves rent-seeking activities while also constituting a violation of the constitution.

'THERE IS NO FOREST AREA SUITABLE FOR SETTLEMENT IN TURKEY'

Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forestry Policy and Management faculty member Assoc. Prof. Cihan Erdönmez states that the periodic removal of forest areas from forest boundaries in Turkey over the last six years is related to the additional Article 16 added to the Forest Law in 2018.

Explaining that forest areas consisting of stone and rock with no trees on them are removed from forest boundaries on the grounds that they are suitable for settlement, Erdönmez said,

"The vast majority of the areas removed from forest boundaries in accordance with these articles have had buildings constructed on them. First of all, it must be stated that there is no forest area in Turkey suitable for settlement. Although the terms stony and rocky are used in the article in question, they are also part of the forest ecosystem. Furthermore, a forest area does not lose its forest character on its own. If an area within forest boundaries has been converted into a settlement and housing has been built on it, this is an act contrary to the Forest Law. Then one must ask: what was the General Directorate of Forestry, which is responsible for enforcing the Forest Law, doing while an activity contrary to the law was being carried out? Therefore, there is a flaw here."

OVER 10 THOUSAND APPLICATIONS

Assoc. Prof. Erdönmez also says that there are more than 10 thousand petitions pending at the Istanbul Regional Directorate of Forestry regarding areas requested to be removed from forest boundaries since the additional Article 16 came into effect.

Emphasizing that the article in question is open to abuse, Erdönmez stated, "Someone comes along and seizes or sets their sights on an area within forest boundaries," and added:

"These areas are also removed from forest boundaries by the political authority within the scope of additional Article 16. How does this happen? For example, Erdoğan, with such a decision, changed the forest boundary for the illegal outbuilding and toilet added to the villa of Aydın Aydın, who was the AKP's mayoral candidate from Muğla, in Bodrum. This is an act that is contrary to Article 169 of the Constitution. The CHP also applied to the Constitutional Court in 2018, when this law came into effect, but the request was rejected by the court."

'ADDITIONAL ARTICLE 16 SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE FOREST LAW'

Pointing out that approximately 4 thousand hectares of land have been removed from forest boundaries so far, Erdönmez demands, "The area removed from forest boundaries with 2B is around 650 thousand hectares. Looking at this data, 4 thousand hectares might seem small, but this practice is open-ended. It is difficult to predict where and how much forest we will lose in the coming days. And the coordinates and value of these areas are priceless. It is not a consistent practice in terms of forestry science or legal science. Additional Article 16 added to the Forest Law must be repealed immediately."

EMPHASIS ON BIODIVERSITY AND WILDLIFE

Stating that rapidly growing metropolitan cities are intertwined with forests and drawing attention to the climate crisis, Erdönmez says, "The most typical example of this is Istanbul," and warns:

"The intertwining of large cities and forests has very significant harms for the forest ecosystem. It has negative effects in terms of soil, water, and air balance, increasing fire risk, biodiversity, and wildlife."

ANOTHER 493 THOUSAND SQUARE METERS OF LAND IN ISTANBUL REMOVED FROM FOREST BOUNDARIES

In the latest decree published, the Northern Forests, which are the city's last natural area and a source of clean air, are also among the areas removed from forest boundaries in Istanbul.

A large part of the 156-page Official Gazette contains areas belonging to the Beykoz district. Among the neighborhoods removed from forest boundaries are 9 neighborhoods including Cumhuriyet, Çayağzı (Riva), Bozhane, Çengeldere, Elmalı, Gümüşsuyu, Örnekköy, Tokatköy, and Zerzevatçı.

Thus, with this decision, 493 thousand square meters of land in Istanbul have been removed from forest boundaries.

THE BEGINNING OF A PLUNDER PROCESS

According to Gülsüm Şakar from the Northern Forests Defense, this decision is an indicator of an urbanization project that opens the north of Istanbul to settlement and zoning. Pointing out that the forest area of the Beykoz region will be almost completely destroyed, Şakar says, "We can see that the pressure on it will continue to increase. Before this decision, which is part of a long-term plunder process, the protection status of some neighborhoods in the Beykoz district was lowered last April, and it was likely planned to increase the capacity of mining enterprises due to their proximity to the mining site. Opening rural areas to activity is carried out either by removing them from the forest or by lowering their protected status."

'WE HAVE NO LIVING CONDITIONS LEFT IN THE CITY'

She emphasizes that these decisions show that natural rural areas will also rapidly turn into concrete, and that the decree should be taken to the judiciary to defend Istanbul's northern forests.

Şakar said, "Every area removed from forest status means the destruction of Istanbul's source of clean water and clean air, the end of wildlife, that is, the loss of our living conditions in the city," and added:

"However, apart from all this, the situation shows that as the ground is prepared with structures such as bridges, the Northern Marmara Motorway (KMO), and the airport, the last remaining natural rural areas in Istanbul will also rapidly turn into concrete and continue to be destroyed by non-forestry activities."

WHAT DOES ADDITIONAL ARTICLE 16 SAY?

According to Article 5 of the regulation for Additional Article 16, which was introduced to the Forest Law No. 6831 by a Presidential decree in 2021, the following places whose boundaries will be determined by the President can be removed from forest boundaries in the following cases:

a) Places that are not seen as having any benefit in being preserved as forests in terms of science and technology by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (those that do not have tree communities on them, and where there is no benefit in establishing a forest in terms of forestry activities and economy) and that cannot be converted into agricultural land.

b) Places that had settlements on them as of 28/4/2018, the date the Law No. 7139 came into effect.

c) Stony, rocky, unproductive places that are suitable for creating settlements and do not actually have forest characteristics.

News Source: 12punto