The Canal Istanbul project continues to spark public debate, particularly over the destruction it is expected to cause Istanbul’s ecosystem and residential areas. While local residents and civil society organizations have voiced strong opposition, the ruling authorities have pressed ahead with steps related to the project.
Most recently, new zoning plans and regulatory changes for the “Yenişehir” reserve development area planned along the Canal Istanbul route were approved by the relevant ministry and have entered into force. According to a series of official notices and announcements published in the first week of February, the zoning status of more than 400,000 square meters of land across several locations in the Arnavutköy district was revised.
Meanwhile, the Şahintepe Housing Assembly, which has long been active in the Canal Istanbul project area and has been leading a struggle for the right to housing in Şahintepe, continues its work. The assembly has produced a documentary focusing on its struggle, which is expected to be released to the public in the near future.
Korkmaz Aslan, a member of the Şahintepe Housing Assembly who has been active in the Canal Istanbul project area for a long time, spoke to ANF about the ministry’s latest decision and recent developments in the region.
Korkmaz Aslan said that the project being pursued is a profit-driven scheme aimed at bringing Gulf capital into Turkey. Aslan also said: “The agricultural lands and green areas in the north of Istanbul are being opened to construction to build a new city in the northern part of the metropolis. The financial backbone of the rent-driven plan they call ‘Yenişehir’, located at two separate ends of the Canal Istanbul route and Istanbul Airport, is intended to come primarily from Gulf capital. The damage that the Canal Istanbul Project will cause to the environment, agricultural land, and even the Sea of Marmara is already well known to the public.
At this moment, the Canal Istanbul project is also threatening the living spaces of poor neighborhoods in northern Istanbul, and policies of forced displacement are being put into effect. They need new profit-driven schemes to finance Gulf capital.”
Aslan noted that the government has, for nearly two decades, positioned the construction sector as the driving force of the country’s economy. He said that the authorities have insisted on channeling public resources to pro-government companies known as the “Gang of Five,” and continued: “In many neighborhoods, including Şahintepe, reserve development area decisions were taken in 2012 under the pretext of the Canal Istanbul project. Even though these were among the first reserve area decisions taken in the country, there was no organized resistance, objection, or legal challenge in these neighborhoods for nearly a decade. Not only local residents, but also individuals and initiatives engaged in urban and ecological struggles did not file lawsuits.
At the beginning of 2022, while the pandemic was still ongoing, a new zoning implementation led to the transfer of properties in thousands of parcels in neighborhoods declared reserve areas in Başakşehir and Arnavutköy to the Hacımaşlı neighborhood of Arnavutköy, some 25 to 35 kilometers away, regardless of whether there were homes on them.”
Hundreds of annulment lawsuits filed over Canal Istanbul project
Aslan said that for a long time no institution or organization had filed lawsuits against the Canal Istanbul project, and described the judicial process as follows: “After the reserve area decisions taken ten years ago, it became clear that the Canal Istanbul project amounted to a direct intervention in the lives of thousands of people living in the region. In response, hundreds of annulment lawsuits were filed under the leadership of lawyer Can Atalay and other jurists from the Social Rights Association. After courts issued rulings stating that there was ‘no need to render a judgment’ in the cases that had been filed, the ministry, although it did not withdraw the zoning implementation, was unable to register in the land registry the zoning scheme described as the ‘Hacımaşlı Exile’. Blocking the Hacımaşlı exile, at least for now, was recorded as the first concrete gain in Şahintepe.
From June 2022 onward, and throughout 2023, almost all of the decisions on the transfer of authority adopted at Başakşehir Municipal Council meetings were annulled as a result of the lawsuits, and the housing projects that were sought to be built along the Canal Istanbul route were brought to a halt. At the same time, the zoning implementations introduced in 2020 in Şahintepe and Sonevler were also overturned by court rulings following lawsuits demanding their annulment.
In 2024, the ministry and the municipality moved into action in the Sonevler area. Two separate decisions adopted by the Başakşehir Municipal Council in 2024 regarding the land parcels located along the Canal Istanbul route were likewise annulled by court rulings.”
Aslan also addressed two separate lawsuits filed by the Bahçeşehir Residents’ Association (BADER) and said: “In the two separate lawsuits filed by BADER, the regional development plans were annulled in the first case, and in the second case, the implementation of all reserve area decisions was suspended. In recent days, the plans and zoning applications for three separate areas have once again been put up for suspension. As always, the ministry continues to insist on unlawful practices by circumventing court rulings.”
Protests will be organized in March and April
Korkmaz Aslan said that the struggle for the right to housing continues in two separate neighborhoods in the region and that the Housing Rights Assemblies remain active, stressing that their resistance would go on. He said: “Two separate Housing Rights Assemblies continue their work in two neighborhoods in the region where the struggle for the right to housing is ongoing: the Başakşehir Şahintepe Housing Rights Assembly and the Arnavutköy Imrahor Housing Rights Assembly. Thanks to the lawsuits filed in Şahintepe, the ministry and the municipality were halted; however, new zoning plans and zoning practices are expected to relaunch the attacks. For this reason, a campaign titled ‘We want zoning for the people, not for profit, and debt-free on-site transformation’ was launched in the neighborhood last week.
Imrahor is also a neighboring Istanbul Airport. In this neighborhood, nearly two hundred lawsuits have been filed against the zoning implementation that was put up for public review and registered in the land registry in 2023. Some of these cases have resulted in favorable rulings, while most have ended up with unfavorable decisions. While public meetings continue in Imrahor, protests will be organized in front of the municipality and in the neighborhood in March and April.”
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