Private helipad to built for Erdoğan in Turkey’s national park in Bursa

A private helipad for President Erdoğan will be built in the picnic area in the protected Uludağ National Park for the hotel opening ceremony which he will attend. The hotel was built after the sanatorium in the national park was rented to a Swiss chain of luxury hotels.

Wednesday September 20 2023 03:20 pm

Pelin Akdemir / Gazete Duvar

A helipad will be built in the picnic area in Kirazlıyayla, a protected area within the borders of Uludağ National Park in northwestern Bursa province, for the opening of a hotel to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Gravel was poured into the picnic area by destroying the grass and flower cover with construction machinery.

A private helipad is being built for President Erdoğan.

The Health Ministry in 2014 rented the sanatorium which was opened for tuberculosis patients within the borders of Uludağ National Park to the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO).

The BTSO said that the building would be used as an education area but subrented the place to Swissôtel, a chain of luxury hotels. The hotel used 10,000 square meters of area from the national park even though the original sanatorium area was 4,000 square meters.

A local environmentalist association’s chair Sedat Güler has submitted a petition to the Uludağ National Park Directorate regarding the issue. In response, the directorate stated that the construction activity in the picnic area was carried out within the scope of the protocol signed between the regional directorate of the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry and the BTSO in 2022.

Güler and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Bursa Deputy Orhan Sarıbal went to the area to make observations.

Güler stated that the vegetation was scraped and gravel was poured in its place, and added "Swissôtel manager said that a helipad would be built in the area because Erdoğan would come to the opening ceremony. There is a helipad in the province’s hotel region. He can land there and come here by car."

Güler noted that the area, which is open to public use, has been privatized, endemic species in the national park have been endangered, and there is a threat of further construction in the future.

Caner Gökbayrak from Bursa Water Collective said that the construction in the area increased by 150 percent after the hotel construction.

The area where the hotel was built exceeds the area of the original sanatorium

(English version by Can Bodrumlu)