The government plans to move ahead with plans to transform a large part of Atatürk Airport, the former aviation hub of Istanbul, into a Public Garden, a name given to large parks that have been built across the country in recent years. The opposition, on the other hand, has defended keeping the airport intact, while authorities continue to point out that it lost its usefulness after the opening of Istanbul Airport.
Earlier this week, bulldozers entered the premises of the airport, which is nowadays limited to cargo and private jet flights, as authorities announced the work was underway for the transformation. Once completed, the Public Garden will be an enormous green patch, a few kilometers away from a small forest in Istanbul's Florya neighborhood.
The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, went as far as calling the project “treason” and threatened to hold those responsible to “account.” “Contractor of those (bulldozers), we will particularly take care of you,” Kılıçdaroğlu tweeted on Monday. The CHP, whose lawmakers are at the forefront of most protests against any construction project they deem harmful to the environment, opposes the Public Garden on the grounds of “protecting a national wealth,” that is, the old airport, which now lies in the middle of a crowded part of Istanbul.
As a group of protesters from the CHP sought to stage a protest at the airport, Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum spoke to reporters about the plans for the Public Garden. Kurum blamed critics, including the CHP, for stoking a false perception of the “destruction of Atatürk Airport."
“It is not destroyed. It is actually being given back to this nation,” he told reporters in the capital Ankara on Tuesday. His ministry earlier shared the illustrations of designs for the planned garden, which shows a runway and air traffic control tower of the airport left intact, with a sprawling forest surrounding it.
Kurum said Atatürk Airport, Turkey’s first airport, caused problems over the years as Istanbul’s population increased, from heavy traffic to air and noise pollution. He said one runway of the airport would be kept for emergency flights, while a green space of 5 million square meters would be transformed for the Public Garden.
The minister highlighted the necessity to move airports away from the inner city and residential areas. He also listed examples of positive signs the relocation of the airport provided, such as an up to a 40% drop in traffic in the area and a decline in yearly carbon dioxide emissions, which have decreased to 75,000 tons from 1 million tons since 2018, the year the airport was relocated.
He reiterated that Kılıçdaroğlu himself pledged to his supporters the plans to build a culture and nature venue at the airport’s site in the past.
“The Public Garden will draw more than 1 million people daily and will be a center of attraction in Istanbul. It will also be a gathering area for people in case of an earthquake,” he added.
