A major architectural transformation project that will reconstruct the historic Haydarpasa train station, the Haydarpasa port and the surrounding area has caused a stir in Kadikoy. Although Istanbul authorities have accepted a plan to rezone the area, the details of the plan are still unknown to the public. Architects, NGOs and urban planners are concerned
Undisclosed plans for Haydarpasa 'killing Istanbul softly'
In Kadıkoy, the 101-year-old Haydarpasa train station greets arriving ferry passengers like an old friend. But this grand work of architecture, built as the starting point of the railway to Baghdad, may soon be surrounded by shopping malls, residences and trade centers.
"I don't want Haydarpasa to be turned into any trade center," said Berat Keskin, a Kadıkoy resident. "They should leave it as is."
The news came after Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality passed a protection plan that provides for the area’s rezoning last week; no information, however, was released to the public about its content.
"This is unacceptable," said Kadıkoy Mayor Selami İnce. "How can they approve a plan without a solid project? First you create a project, make 3-D models and see whether it will work or not – only then can you have a plan to reconstruct such a large area," he told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
"We don't even know what it is about," said Mucella Yapıcı from the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, or TMMOB. "But one thing I know is that it is definitely not a protection plan. They are going to turn Haydarpasa into a trade center and residences," she told the Daily News.
Korhan Gumus, an architect and director of urban implementations for the European Capital of Culture Agency, agrees. "I cannot approach this plan as an urban planning project," he said. "This plan actually points to a very strategic decision. And such a decision cannot be handled with such a compartmentalized model."
The next few years will witness major changes for Istanbul's architectural transformation. The Marmaray tunnel project, which will provide transportation between the city’s Asian and European sides under the Bosphorus Strait, is expected to be completed in 2013. Once the project ends, its last stop will be Sogutluçesme, leaving Haydarpasa train station off the line.
On the other hand, many people agree that the Haydarpasa area should be rezoned, yet many question how this should be done and by whom.
"I am not entirely against the restructuring of the area," said architect omer Kanıpak. "Especially the Haydarpasa port seems insufficient to function as the central port for such a big city. Istanbul definitely needs a bigger port. Yet, what is disturbing is that everything is happening behind closed doors," he told the Daily News.
İnce agreed. "I do think the area needs to be reconstructed,” he said. “But it should also be compatible with the rest of Kadıkoy and uskudar.”
The spread of neo-Ottoman style
This is not the first time controversy has brewed over Haydarpasa. In 2004, the government passed a bill transferring all the planning, selling and licensing rights for the area from Kadıkoy Municipality to Turkish State Railways, or TCDD.
Soon, however, the TCDD was privatized, meaning that the area around Haydarpasa also fell into private hands.
After the municipality accepted a plan to restructure the area last week, construction in the area will begin after a bidding process in 2010.
"They need to organize a competition instead of starting a bid on such an important project," said Kanıpak. "The same thing happened in Hamburg, Germany, and they set up an independent organization to implement the process. Here it is just the state that decides everything."
Although no information about the reconstruction plan has been released, projects have already begun, the most controversial of which is from the Çalık group, a firm known for its close relationships with the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
The project's architect, sefik Birkiye, said they will create convention and sports centers, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, cinemas and cultural centers.
"We want to design the whole area in a contemporary Ottoman style," said Birkiye in an interview. "And we also want to develop an artificial strait with artificial canals, like the ones in Venice. And we also want to build seven copper towers to become the symbols of Istanbul."
In reaction to such plans Yapıcı, who is also one of the organizers of the Haydarpasa Solidarity Group, said: "We will fight it. We will do whatever it takes, including [utilizing the] judicial process."
"Once the plan is announced, there is a one-month period to oppose it," said İnce. "And then we can take it to court."
"The AKP has built this Ottoman-style architecture everywhere; it is now visible in all government and municipality buildings, ferry and metro stations and cultural centers," said Gumus. "Instead of these Orientalist projects, they need to base the architecture on the cultural background of the area and its people."
Gumus is fairly pessimistic about the future skyline of the city. "It is more dangerous than the expected earthquake. They are killing Istanbul softly."
Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com
