Construction of Turkish President’s summer palace gives harm to the environment and improperly uses public money

As the construction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s summer palace in Turkey’s southwestern province of Muğla is continuing, millions of public funding have been wasted, and at least 50 thousand trees were cut for the construction of the palace.

The Council of Ministers allowed being zoned natural protected areas in Gökova Bay including many districts of Muğla such as Akyaka, Turunç and Akbük for construction, according to Cumhuriyet daily.

The construction site allocated for a new 300-room guesthouse planned to be replaced with 230 square-meter Okluk Residence consisting of 4 rooms and a living-room with a concrete pier and a helipad was increased from 20 to 65 hectares despite the objections of nature activists and the Metropolitan Municipality of Muğla.

A 200-decare protected area has been almost isolated from nature by concrete walls building around it. Construction wastes of Turkish President’s summer palace significantly polluted the seaside. As the construction costs of the summer palace drawing reaction due to its harm to the environment and high cost are kept like a secret, it has been revealed that even only air-conditioning cost of it is 3 million Turkish lira [$658,786].

When the construction of the summer palace is completed in Okluk, there will be four main blocks, a rest house, staff lodgments and two security gates. The largest of the blocks is 3,347 square meters, and there are three areas of "hobby and entertainment". These areas have been designed for activities such as swimming pool, spa and cinema. The size of "the living space," consisting of a living room, a room and working offices, varies between 611-763 square meters.

The construction of the summer palace had started in April 2017. Erdoğan’s Presidential Palace in Ankara with its 1150 rooms, which was built by plundering an area of about 1.5 million square meters from the Atatürk Forest Farm’s lands, has also been expanded with additional buildings each passing day.

The summer palace construction, which initially began as "maintenance work" of the four-roomed guest house built during the period of the 8th Turkish President Turgut Özal, has been transformed into a luxurious new building construction for Erdoğan and his family.

Saying that the construction of Turkish President’s palace is damaging the environment, many experts state that the construction of the palace is illegal and unlicensed, and any settlement in the given area is outlawed; even fishing in the bay is illegal.

A previous news in May 2018 reporting that "40 thousand of trees were cut down for Erdoğan’s summer palace" had been banned by a Turkish court on the pretext of "insulting the Turkish President."