On 25 September 2020, the 53-decare area located in the Kaynartepe neighbourhood of Diyarbakır’s (Amed) central Bağlar district was declared a risky area in the Official Newspaper and was included in the scope of urban transformation.
The population of this district, which has a history of 60 years and mostly consists of people who migrated from the rural areas of the region, has now exceeded 396,000. Now, since a Presidential Decree defining the district as a “terrorist threat”, 5,000 people are expected to leave their homes as structures in the region are demolished.
It has been revealed that while 6,750 people currently live in the immediate project area, buildings for only 1,750 people will be constructed. The Diyarbakır Branch of the Chamber of Urban Planners applied to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation for the revision of the project, which was prepared with the assumption that 5,000 will migrate.
“It is a project based on changing the demography of the region. They aim to create profitable spaces instead of meeting the needs of the people,” said Çekdar Taşkıran, co-chair of the Chamber of City Planners Diyarbakır Branch in an interview with MA.
“Such decisions have to be taken after asking the opinions of locals, the chambers, and other non-governmental organisations, but none of this has happened,” he said.
Adding that the legal requirements have not been met. Taşkıran said, they have analysed the zoning plans and made the necessary appeal.
“This project will not serve the people,” he said, “We have to think of the people who live here.”
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