Municipalities in Istanbul and the capital of Ankara run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) face public outcry for a string of environmental issues.
In Istanbul’s historic Gülhane Park, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) recently chopped down some 50 trees despite locals’ opposition. The latest episode of mass felling in Istanbul’s historic peninsula near Sultanahmet Square follows similar incidents in the past where the municipality cut down old trees in Dolmabahçe and Emirgan under the pretext of the trees decaying.
Locals speaking to the Sabah newspaper said the trees could have been removed from their current location and replanted elsewhere but the municipality preferred to root them out completely on Oct. 29. One day later, another mass felling took place in Gezi Park, where people, including CHP supporters, protested an alleged plan by the municipality to fell trees in 2013.
The IBB has pledged to plant new trees in the cases of previous mass felling, but locals say they still have not planted new ones. Social media users also questioned how the municipality came to the conclusion that the best way to resolve the problem of decaying trees was chopping trees and argued whether the municipality consulted with experts and sought ways to find another solution before the felling.
On the Asian side of Istanbul, another CHP-run municipality incurred the wrath of locals. Residents of Kartal complain that garbage-strewn streets endanger public health as the municipality does not regularly collect the garbage. The issue stems from a strike by employees of a cleaning company operated by the municipality who complained of low wages.
“It has been four days and nobody showed up to collect garbage,” Emin Kalfa, a local speaking to the Sabah newspaper, said on Saturday. “Workers are right but this is the responsibility of the Kartal municipality,” he said. Necati Hacıoğlu, another local, said they paid environment tax and garbage tax but the municipality did not use these and left streets strewn with garbage.
Ankara is relatively in better shape at least in terms of garbage collection compared to Istanbul. But there, Mayor Mansur Yavaş faces questions about the municipality’s excessive spending. When media outlets revealed that the Ankara municipality spent TL 69 million ($2.01 million) for Republic Day celebrations where two prominent singers performed concerts on Oct. 29, locals and opponents of Yavaş were angry.
“He wasted TL 69 million for concerts, but we have not seen anything concrete that Yavaş has done in his tenure of six years,” Fatih Ünal, a member of the municipal assembly for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was quoted as saying by Sabah newspaper.
“You could have purchased six new public buses with the money you spent on celebrations,” Metin Çeken, another AK Party assembly member in the Ankara municipality, was quoted as saying.
“The mayor spends money he should spend on roads, water grid and infrastructure on concerts,” he added.
