The Ankara branch of the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects’ Chambers (TMMOB) has protested against a move by the Ankara Municipality and the rector of Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) to cut down trees on the ODTÜ campus on Saturday and said Ankara’s future will be destroyed by the decision.
The architects condemned the municipality, which is planning to cut down 8,000 trees to build additional roads through the campus, and called it a “massacre.”
Accusing the ODTÜ rector of giving permission to cut down trees on the university campus, the chairman of the architects’ chamber, Tezcan Karakuş Candan, said: “You destroyed the future of a city, you took its breath away.”
“Last night [Saturday] a tree massacre was carried out by Metropolitan Municipality at ODTÜ. … Trees were cut down in pieces at night by heavy equipment and dozers. … Thousands of trees were massacred for construction of a 4.8-kilometer road in a 36-hectare area.”
Candan also argued that constructing roads on the campus will not solve the transportation crisis and will make it even worse. He said their warnings about it were not taken seriously.