16.10.2026 12:14
Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum, who was conducting inspections in Ayazağa, where the flood disaster occurred, responded to New Party Chairman Özgür Özel, who targeted him over Kanal Istanbul, by saying, "While search and rescue efforts continue, doing politics over a disaster is incompetence; we will not engage in mudslinging politics."
Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum and Minister of Interior Mustafa Çiftçi inspected Ayazağa, which was affected by the flood disaster in Istanbul. After the field inspections, Minister Kurum made statements to members of the press and reacted sharply when asked about New Party Chairman Özgür Özel's claims regarding Canal Istanbul and the flood disaster.
“DOING POLITICS WHILE WE HAVE LOSSES IS INCOMPETENCE” Responding to New Party Chairman Özgür Özel's statements pointing to him and the Canal Istanbul project as responsible for the disaster, Minister Kurum stressed that the process should not be made political material and said: “Doing politics over this event is, to put it in one word, incompetence. Dear friends, we have 3 deaths and missing people. We are experiencing one of the largest flood disasters in Istanbul's history. While we are still continuing search efforts for our missing, doing politics over this event is, to put it in one word, incompetence. It is an effort by Mr. Özgür Özel to cover up his own lack of foresight and the problems in his own administrations.”
“IN PLANNED HOUSING BUILT FOR DISASTERS...” Touching on the work carried out in the Canal Istanbul area and urban transformation and social housing projects across Turkey, Kurum continued: “Only social housing projects are being built on the Canal Istanbul project. To date, within the framework of the will put forward by our President, 1 million 700 thousand social housing units have been built in our 81 provinces. In disasters, earthquakes and urban transformation projects, again across all of Turkey, 2 million 300 thousand housing units have been built. In our 11 provinces, in two years, with unprecedented work, 455 thousand housing units have been completed and delivered. The disasters experienced have shown that in these housing units, in housing built in a planned and resilient manner, our citizens did not even get a scratch in these disasters. Look, they did not even get a scratch. The earthquake region showed this most recently. Here, our citizens want planned urbanization.”
“INSTEAD OF CURSING AND DOING POLITICS, LET HIM COME AND SEE THE PROBLEM IN AYAZAĞA” Calling on Özgür Özel to go to the field and cooperate with local administrations, Minister Kurum said: “Now, because he does not go out into the street, he does not know what is wanted and expected on the street. Let him come and see for himself what the problem is in Ayazağa. Instead of doing politics about the solution, instead of showing political incompetence here, let him come and put forward that will here. Look, together with our Metropolitan Municipality Acting Mayor and our Sarıyer Mayor, we are talking together about what is needed and what is lacking here, consulting, and trying to set out together what needs to be done. We are not doing politics, we are not blaming anyone. We believe that this is also the right thing today.”
“WE WILL NOT DO MUD-SLINGING AND SLANDER POLITICS” Finally, stating that the government's focus is on healing the wounds of disaster victims, Kurum concluded his statement with these words: “Therefore, he should not try to cover up his own administrative incompetence with these reckonings and these slanders. Let him come here and see what our citizens lack, and see that lack. Let him put forward the will to remedy it. If there is a deficiency related to infrastructure here, how can we remedy it, how can we open the closed sections over the stream, how can we carry out urban transformation here together—it is time to consult on these and put forward that will. The citizen expects this, the nation expects this. Therefore, as always, we will again display the attitude that puts forward the will regarding the nation's problems and the solution to those problems. We will not do mud-slinging politics, we will not do slander politics. Here, together, whatever Ayazağa's problems are, whatever Istanbul's problems are, without any calculation in the back of our minds, without any expectation, solely and only to receive our nation's prayers, we will carry out this work. I also suggest to him that, with this perspective, he come here, to Sarıyer, listen to the citizens and remedy these deficiencies.”