'Public interest not protected in Atatürk Airport decision'

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In the case filed by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality arguing that the administrative decisions taken about the Atatürk Airport in İstanbul were in violation of law, regulations, and public interest, the expert opinion has been prepared and submitted to the court.

The expert opinion includes evaluations that acknowledge the municipality is right in its objections to the administrative decisions on Atatürk Airport taken by the central government.

Atatürk Airport, which is located on the European side of İstanbul near the Marmara Sea in the south of the city, with its metro and other means of transport connections to the heart of the city, was totally closed to commercial flights after the opening of the new İstanbul Airport at the north of the city.

The expert opinion presented to the court indicates that a more comprehensive revision plan is necessary. It also states that the decision made, "was not in line with the principles of city planning, the requirements of the settlement in the future, planning techniques, and that the public interest was not protected."

"Adoption to climate change" target not realistic

The environmental plan and the planning principles were in contradiction with the Environment Plan adopted in 2009, underlines the report. It also states that "the proposal for 500 hectares of a green field [to be created] targeting adoption to climate change is not based on an analytic evaluation and is not realistic."

"Airport is critical in a possible disaster"

The export report also underlines the critical role that Atatürk Airport can play in a possible crisis and states that this critical role has not been examined sufficiently.

"It has been evaluated that the gain and public interest to be obtained by making the airport runways operational will be more than that to be obtained by using the runways for another purpose," adds the report.

What happened to Atatürk Airport?

Since the opening of the new İstanbul Airport in October 2018, the Atatürk Airport has been mostly idle. Part of the airport was turned into a field hospital during the pandemic.

On May 16 last year, dozers entered Atatürk Airport to start work to convert the airport into a recreational area.

This was after a "Nation's Garden" project was assigned to the Yapı&Yapı company in a negotiated tender on April 29. 

There were allegations that the reason behind the move to turn the airport into a recreational area is that the İstanbul Airport will be sold to investors from Gulf countries, who don't want a second airport on the city's European side.

Murat Kurum, the minister of environment, urbanization, and climate change, had said in response that the airport area will never be opened for development and there will be no housing projects in the area.

He dismissed the claim that the airport was sold to investors from Qatar and added that one runway will be kept operational for emergencies. (NT/PE)