Minister Kurum: “The İzmir Gulf will be cleaned up, if you please.”

Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum stated, “As the Minister of Environment, I say this; everyone should take note, the İzmir Bay will be cleaned. The İzmir Metropolitan Municipality will fulfill its responsibilities.”

Minister Kurum presented the budget proposals for his ministry and its affiliated organizations for 2025 in the TBMM Planning and Budget Commission. He explained the current status of many projects of the ministry, from the urban transformation activities in 81 provinces to the fight against climate change, the Zero Waste Movement, national parks, and environmental and nature conservation projects, detailing the work done after the February 6 earthquakes. Minister Kurum pointed out that Turkey has experienced 20 devastating earthquakes in the last 120 years, burying thousands of its citizens, emphasizing that today 71% of the population of 85 million lives in earthquake-prone areas.

“The earthquake zone has become a ‘national mobilization area'”

Minister Kurum noted that immediately after the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, the largest housing mobilization in the history of the Republic was initiated. He stated, “Under the leadership of our President, who always focuses on the earthquake zone as a priority, we laid our first foundations less than 45 days after the earthquake. At the end of the third month, we started the construction of exactly 180,000 homes. Today, the earthquake zone, which is rising from its ashes, has become the world’s largest and most active construction site. It has become the largest ‘national mobilization area’ in the 10-century story of Anatolia, which every individual of the Turkish nation cherishes. Currently, 160,000 of our brothers are dedicated to the earthquake zone in 1,900 construction sites in 11 provinces, building our new homes with the awareness of ‘defending our homeland.'”

“By the end of 2025, we will hand over the keys to 453,000 homes and workplaces”

Minister Kurum announced that tenders for 358,000 homes and workplaces in the earthquake zone have been completed so far and reminded that the 130,000th residence in Hatay has been delivered. He noted that construction is ongoing for approximately 62,000 village houses in 4,333 villages, saying, “By constructing an average of 1,500 houses daily, we will complete 70,000 more of our units and hand over a total of 202,000 homes and workplaces. By the end of 2025, we will have handed over the keys to 453,000 homes and workplaces to our disaster-affected brothers. We will not leave a single disaster-affected brother without a home.”

“600,000 homes in Istanbul are at risk of collapsing spontaneously”

Reiterating the call for urban transformation in Istanbul, Minister Kurum stated:
“We are especially protective of our Istanbul, which has faced the greatest trials against earthquakes in its history and poses a risk to Turkey’s survival in the event of a possible earthquake. Our scientists add a new warning every day, saying, ‘An earthquake is expected in Istanbul in the near future; urgent and continuous urban transformation is essential.’ They say, ‘All agendas concerning Istanbul should be postponed, and we should focus swiftly on transformation.’ They base these calls on the following truths: Today, Istanbul is a massive metropolis with a total of 7.5 million homes and workplaces. Of these, 1.5 million have not received engineering services and are at a high risk due to ground conditions. In fact, 600,000 of these could collapse spontaneously at any moment, even without a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. It is a daily occurrence that a building collapses spontaneously in a neighborhood of Istanbul.”

“We have started construction of 88,000 social housing units”

Minister Kurum stated that by the end of 2025, they will launch a new social housing campaign covering all 81 provinces, saying:
“By revitalizing the Housing Development Administration, which was faltering before us, we are proud to have invested 3 trillion lira over 21 years, providing 1 million 462 thousand social housing units and 46 thousand social facilities to 5 million low-income citizens. But we do not stop there. Today, we are passionately continuing the construction of our 312,000 homes, parks, gardens, mosques, schools, and social facilities at exactly 1,210 construction sites spread across all 81 provinces. We completed the tender for 130,000 houses, sold 34,000 houses, and delivered 52,000 houses in 2024. We have largely finished our housing projects for 50,000 and 100,000 social housing units despite the high costs and difficulties caused by the earthquake. I express for the first time here that we have started the construction of 88,000 houses in our 250,000 social housing campaign. According to the tender schedule announced by TOKİ two days ago, we will start all our construction projects, fulfilling our promise to our people. We have also collected our requests for the First Home Land Project in 694 districts. By July 2025, we will complete the allocation processes.”

Minister Kurum noted that a zero waste management system has been established in 193,000 buildings under the Zero Waste Movement led by Emine Erdoğan, with a total of 60 million tons of waste recovered. He emphasized that this has contributed 185 billion lira to the economy and prevented the cutting of 498 million trees and the release of 5.9 million tons of greenhouse gases. Kurum stated that in the last 22 years, 58 billion lira has been allocated to 25,950 environmental investments without regard to municipal distinctions, saying, “We will designate our zero waste pilot districts in Turkey’s 7 regions. We will complete the establishment of our Deposit Management System’s machinery and infrastructure by the end of 2025 and implement it nationwide. We have increased our recovery rate from 13% in 2017 to 35% by 2024; hopefully, by working harder, we will raise it to 60% by 2035.”

Contaminated water from İzmir Bay in the Planning and Budget Commission

Minister Kurum brought a sample of polluted water taken from the İzmir Bay to the Planning and Budget Commission. Showing the dirty water sample, he said, “I brought this water to better explain the pollution in the İzmir Bay to politicians who shy away from seeing it and have not made a single statement in the face of this grim picture. It is time to see that our İzmir Bay is experiencing a great environmental disaster, struggling for life with all the living beings in the Bay, and thousands of fish are dying every hour.”

Noting that İzmir citizens do not lead a comfortable life, Minister Kurum stated, “Can fish live in a sea with this pollution? Right now, the amount of ammonia from wastewater sources in this water sample is 50 times higher than it should be. The oxygen level is zero, zero.”

“The İzmir Bay will be cleaned”

Minister Kurum stated that they will soon share the Medium and Long-Term Action Plans for the İzmir Bay with the public, saying:
“I emphasize that we will follow up on this issue. We will follow every process regarding the cleaning of the İzmir Bay. We will not allow the İzmir Bay to be wasted in careless hands, nor will we permit the mentality that says, ‘We will swim in the Bay’ before every election without taking a single positive step. As the Minister of Environment, I say this; everyone should take note, the İzmir Bay will be cleaned. The İzmir Metropolitan Municipality will fulfill its responsibilities. It will do what is required. We will continue to remind everyone of their duties on behalf of the people of İzmir and our nation.”

Pilot area Mapa-Buoy in Fethiye and Göcek

Minister Kurum mentioned that the Mapa-Buoy Project, which will ensure the clean future of the blue homeland, will start as a pilot application in the Fethiye-Göcek Special Environmental Protection Area within this year, stating, “With our project, we will ensure that boats and yachts can stay in our bays in a controlled manner. We will protect ecological life. We will prevent the discharge of waste into the sea and protect marine life. We will measure our success, correct our deficiencies, and continue to apply the same practice in all our seas as soon as possible.”

Minister Kurum also spoke about the “Lake Van Basin Protection Action Plan and Implementation Program,” the cleaning of Lake Eğirdir, and nature conservation projects in Ayder and Uzungöl. He stated that the “Green City Vision” continues with national parks, saying, “We are currently building a total of 521 national parks spread over an area of 77 million square meters. We have completed the construction of 274 national parks and presented them to our citizens. We will quickly complete all remaining phases of the Atatürk Airport National Park, which we met with the first saplings on the 569th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, and joyfully open it with our people.”

“Regulations regarding site management are nearing completion”

Regarding the preparations for regulations concerning site management, Minister Kurum said, “We are nearing completion of our legislative work, which will find solutions to the problems of both property owners and service provider companies regarding how common areas and expenses in apartments and sites will be managed. God willing, we will present this to our people within this year.”

Green certificate, rainwater, and gray water will be mandatory

Minister Kurum announced that the Planned Areas Zoning Regulation has also been updated, stating:
“We are facilitating the installation of charging units for electric vehicles in residential areas. The electrical infrastructure required for the installation of charging units in site and apartment parking lots will no longer be subject to building permits. Additionally, we are making it mandatory to obtain a Green Certificate for health, education, and service buildings of 10,000 square meters and above that will be newly constructed and will receive building permits. The installation of rainwater and gray water systems will now be mandatory in certain sizes and types of public and private buildings. In this way, we aim to save as much water as Lake Mogan every 1.5 years.”

In response to the words of opposition party deputies, Minister Kurum replied, “You can’t digest it, you can’t digest it, you can’t digest it. We will continue to provide these services for our esteemed nation. I wish our 2025 budget to be beneficial for our nation.”