'İstanbul Diabolically Ruined For Petty Benefits,' PM Says

The city of İstanbul has been mercilessly ruined for petty benefits, the acting head of the government has said.

Speaking at a publicity event for a project called “City-Man” in İstanbul on Friday night, acting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu likened İstanbul to a treasure and said its riches are not just the city's grand historical and cultural background, but also its metaphysical importance.

He then added: “There are few cities which have been as ill-treated by modernity as İstanbul, few cities whose ancient spirit has been so destroyed in a way I could call diabolical. It is a treasure that has been destroyed for petty benefits.”
Davutoğlu said cities such as Sydney and New York are as impressive as İstanbul in terms of physical beauty, but he drew a distinction between İstanbul and the two, arguing that İstanbul has a metaphysical dimension the other two lack.
“This is one of the differences İstanbul has,” he added.

Davutoğlu stressed that all should ask themselves about how to integrate with the world and be modern while protecting the historical silhouette of İstanbul.
Davutoğlu's remarks may be taken as veiled criticism of both İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş, who is also from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and his own party officials, as the AK Party has been harshly criticized for having irreversibly damaged İstanbul with inappropriate construction projects.

Gürsel Tekin, secretary-general of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), maintained ahead of the June 7 general election that amendments to zoning permits during the AK Party rule created a total of $100 billion in unearned income.

The metropolitan municipality of İstanbul has been much criticized in recent years for choosing to construct high-rise buildings in areas which many believe should have been left for recreation, such as the coastline in İstanbul's Ataköy district.

Amendments to zoning permits in İstanbul have also frequently allowed the construction of high-rise buildings in areas where previously there were only smaller buildings. The substantial increase in the price of housing in the city made such investments very profitable.

It has been widely claimed that the AK Party paved the way for pro-government businesspeople to profit from construction projects through such zoning amendments, and that some of that profit was then returned to the party in donations.

Professor: Davutoğlu is trying to make thievery anonymous

Eser Karakaş a Professor of Economics at Istanbul University told Today's Zaman that Davutoğlu's statements were not sincere and that he was trying to shift the blame on a vague concept such as “modernity.”

Karakaş said that heavy penalties would befall anyone who dared to do what happened in Istanbul in cities like London or Paris. “If the high-rise buildings [built] in Istanbul were constructed in let's say Paris or London, that architect would be barred from his professional chambers, that municipal authority would not be allowed to enter another election.”

“Can you imagine? Putting up skyscrapers next to the Notre Dame? Unthinkable, utterly unthinkable. They [AK Party] raped the city, if Davutoğlu is sincere then the formal procedure should start knock down those ugly buildings which tarnish İstanbul's silhouette” he said.

Karakaş was previously dismissed from his post as columnist at the pro-government newspaper, Star daily, after an interview was published which quoted him saying: "The AK Party is not a conservative party. It is an opportunist party. Conservatism is something different; there are no conservatives in Turkey. A conservative struggles to protect the essence of some values. One of the most important things to protect in Turkey is the skyline of İstanbul, one of the best-preserved skylines in the history of world architecture.”

“During the AK Party era, the 16:9 [OnaltıDokuz] towers were erected [in İstanbul], which ruined the skyline. I personally know the man who made these [towers]; he calls himself 'conservative.' Conservative my a**. If you are conservative, you cannot do this. Those who call themselves conservative only [associate this term] to what is between their legs.” Karakaş said in the interview.

Professor: İstanbul damaged under supervision of PM's ideology

Ayhan Kaya, a professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, at the faculty of International Relations and Politics, spoke to Today's Zaman underlining that İstanbul has been under the control of the ruling party's ideology for over 21 years and that much of the destruction done to the city's green space was done in this period.

Kaya, the director of the European Institute at Bilgi said, “The damage İstanbul faced was done under the supervision of a political ideology he [prime minister] prescribes to, therefore I find his tragicomic even if true.”

“The analysis is right, and there is room for hope, however responsibility has to be taken regarding this issue” he said.

Arif Tekdal / Bayram Emir, Ankara (Cihan/Today's Zaman)