Ankara Architects Chamber head expelled from civil service

The Interior Ministry expelled Ankara Architects Chamber chair Tezcan Karakuş Candan from civil service over the alleged charges of “receiving salary without going to work.” The chamber had previously sued the construction of the presidential palace on forest land in Ankara's Atatürk Forest Farm and the construction of TOGO Towers.

Wednesday September 07 2022 02:48 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s Interior Ministry on Sept. 6 dismissed Ankara Architects Chamber chair Tezcan Karakuş Candan from civil service.

The move came after the ministry launched an investigation into Candan over the alleged charge of receiving salary from the opposition-run Ankara’s Çankaya district municipality without going to work, upon a complaint filed by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) ex-deputy Sinan Aygün.

Aygün is the owner of TOGO Towers located in Ankara. The Council of State in February 2021 decided that the towers were constructed illegally and ordered them to be demolished, upon the lawsuit filed by the Ankara Architects Chamber.

Tezcan Karakuş Candan and Çankaya Municipality filed a lawsuit for the ministry's investigation to be halted. The Council of State then canceled the investigation permission given by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. Despite this decision, the ministry on Sept. 6 expelled Candan from civil service.

Commenting on the incident, Candan said this is the first time that the Interior Ministry initiated a disciplinary investigation and imposed a dismissal sentence for a public official other than its own institution.

Candan said the decision was political and the state had set up a conspiracy against its own personnel.

“They try to silence us. We will not take a step back. They will go, we will stay. That (presidential) palace will be emptied; TOGO towers will be demolished,” she added.

Ankara Architects Chamber had previously also sued the construction of the presidential palace on forest land in protected Atatürk Forest Farm (AOÇ) land.

Atatürk Forest Farm was started when trees were planted on 2,000 hectares of land in 1925, a mass forestation effort led by the Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The forest more than doubled in size by 1937, reaching 5,200 hectares of trees that were initially thought not to be suitable for the harsh climate of central Anatolia.

The forest farm became public property upon Atatürk's death, until President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's mass presidential complex took up some of the greenery, 310,000 square-meters at the end of 2016.