Interior Ministry cancels service passport of Ankara Architects Chamber head
Ankara Architects Chamber chair Tezcan Karakuş Candan has not been notified about the cancellation of her service passport and found out about it as she was preparing to go to Copenhagen to attend the World Congress of Architects.
Duvar English
The Interior Ministry has cancelled Ankara Architects Chamber chair Tezcan Karakuş Candan’s service passport -- a special passport given to civil servants who need to go abroad frequently.
Candan found out about the cancellation as she was preparing to go to Copenhagen to attend the World Congress of Architects held by the International Union of Architects (UIA) on July 2-9.
In September, the Interior Ministry had terminated Candan’s job at Çankaya Municipality over the alleged charges of “receiving salary without going to work.” The ministry’s move came after the chamber sued the construction of the presidential palace on forest land in Ankara's Atatürk Forest Farm and the construction of TOGO Towers.
Candan later took her dismissal from civil service to an appeals court, still waiting for a final decision by the judiciary. In the meantime, the Interior Ministry has not notified her of its service passport cancellation move.
The renowned architect said that “arbitrary dismissal from work,” “cancellation of her service passport without notification through unlawful procedures” and her “not being able to participate in the congress in Copenhagen” are all a “shame on Turkey.”
“I am sad on behalf of my country. My lawyers have applied to the judiciary for all kinds of material and immaterial rights. We will continue to struggle until justice, freedom and democracy come to this country,” she said.