Ortaylı: 50 Years From Now, People Will Curse These Days

İlber Ortaylı, a leading Turkish historian, has said he has no hope for the future of İstanbul, as ongoing deforestation and unchecked urbanization continue to destroy the city.

Speaking to Hürriyet daily columnist Ahmet Hakan in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, Ortaylı said mega construction projects drive deforestation in İstanbul and humidity and heat have increased due to unchecked urbanization and concretion.

“In the present day, politicians and governors suffer from a lack of respect for and knowledge of history. There is building that was constructed by Italians in Maçka [district]. They turned this historic building into a hotel. Those people just do not know their places! What misbehavior! We clearly suffer from a lack of knowledge. Those who reside in Kadıköy don't know about Suriçi. Nobody knows about Beyoğlu, Beyköy and many other historic places. And this ignorance brings recklessness. Fifty years from now, people will curse these days, but it will be too late.

Ortaylı also claimed that Adnan Menderes -- the prime minister at the time of the May 27, 1960 coup d'état who, along with two of his ministers, was hanged by the junta after the military intervention -- was the first prime minister to cause destruction in İstanbul.

“The first devastating steps were taken during the Menderes era. The CHP [Republican People's Party] would have also done the same but they had neither the money nor opportunity to do so. But Menderes had both money and the opportunity. Thus, he launched far-reaching construction plans to redesign İstanbul according to his own wishes. That's a fine kettle of fish! He caused immeasurable destruction in the city. As one can clearly see, even a patriotic prime minister can launch meaningless and ignorant construction plans and cause irreparable destruction,” Ortaylı said.

Ortaylı also asserted that in the metropolitan areas of today, the social mentality is still highly informed by the rural lifestyle. “The people who live in the tenements are not nourished by nature and don't live on clean soil. They do not live the village life, but they still continue to have a rural mentality.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)