Judges Who Halted Construction Of Ak Saray Reassigned

The judges who declared the construction of the controversial Ak Saray presidential palace illegal and annulled a revision to its zoning plan have been reassigned to other posts, a daily claimed on Friday.

“Ali Çatal, the head of the Ankara 5th Administrative Court, which issued the verdict, has been assigned to the Ankara Regional Administrative Court,” the Sözcü daily reported. The other two members of the court have also been removed, according to the report. Judge Ziya Öcal has been assigned as a rapporteur in the Council of State, while Judge İrfan Ceren has been given a role in Yozgat province.

The court had unanimously voted in February to annul an amendment by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to the zoning plan of the Ataturk Forestry Farm (AOÇ).

The municipality's amendment paved the way for the lavish presidential palace to be built on AOÇ land, which is a protected zone.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ -- who previously claimed that the court ruling halting the construction of the new presidential palace had been reversed by another court's ruling -- admitted on Thursday that he was wrong and apologized. During parliamentary debates over the presidential palace, Bozdağ said he had made a mistake when he stated that a regional administrative court had reversed the decision of the Ankara 5th Administrative Court to suspend construction on the palace. Bozdağ claimed that he had been misinformed by bureaucrats.

The lavish Ak Saray (White Place) has been at the center of heated debates. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who will use the palace in his official role as president, ignored a number of court orders to halt construction while the palace was being built. Even after the court ruling in March, Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time, told reporters: “Let them demolish it if they can. They ordered an injunction, but they will not be able to stop it. I will open it and I will sit in it.”

Built at a cost of TL 1.37 billion ($615 million) and constructed on 300,000 square meters inside the AOÇ in Ankara, the palace has been the target of harsh criticism for its lavishness and size considering its function as the presidential residence, which is a symbolic seat in Turkey.

The Ankara branch of the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects' Chambers (TMMOB) recently claimed that the palace had at least 2,000 rooms and may have up to 5,000 if underground levels are also included. The Ak Saray was previously said to have a total of 1,000 rooms.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)