One of the few remaining large green spaces in Istanbul, Validebağ Grove in Üsküdar is facing a fierce battle for its future; it will either be opened up to construction or it will continue to remain as a green site.
Validebağ Grove is a unique place in İstanbul with its forested areas and historical architecture.
The grove came to public attention late last year with plans by the Justice and Development Party-run (AK Party) Üsküdar Municipality to demolish a parking lot at its entrance to pave the way for the construction of a mosque there.
Locals and members of environmental organizations were mobilized to stop the construction of the mosque. Although the planned construction site is at the exterior of the first-degree protected green space, as designated by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, many were concerned that it would bring more construction projects to the site and eventually enter the forested area.
Located in the valley between Üsküdar and Kadıköy, the grove is a legacy from Adile Sultan, aunt of the last Ottoman sultan, Vahdettin. The site was chosen as a place of recuperation for Adile Sultan and her brother Sultan Abdülmecit, who were suffering from tuberculosis. After defeating the disease thanks to the fresh air, sun and ecological richness in the area, Adile Sultan and her brother had a three-storey mansion, the Adile Sultan Kasrı, constructed in the grove.
There are 90 large windows on every storey of the mansion to let in light and oxygen. The mansion, which served as an orphanage during the initial years of the Turkish Republic, has been a teachers` dormitory in recent years after being restored.
When the Adile Sultan Kasrı was first built, Validebağ Grove was 1.7 million square meters in size; now the area has decreased to 354,000 square meters due to the construction taking place.
Validebağ Grove differs from the other scarce green spaces in the metropolis as there are 128 different breeds of bird living in the area and more than 7,000 plant species.
Associate Professor Erdal Üzen, who teaches in the department of botany at İstanbul University, said Validebağ Grove is located on the migration route of birds, and thus serves as a resting place for birds that come from Thrace and cross the Bosporus. He also said 27 butterfly species have been discovered in the grove.
According to Canan Atay, a landscape architect, Ottoman sultans made good use of the area and when there were widespread cases of tuberculosis, fresh food was produced in the grove to be used in the patients` recovery.
There are more than 60 tree species as well as 10 monumental trees that need to be protected in Validebağ.
Associate Professor Üzen said there has not been serious academic work done on the flora and fauna of Validebağ Grove so far, which he said is an important shortcoming that needs to be addressed. He said information about the plant and animal species in the grove needs to be collected from the archives of the Ottoman Empire.
According to Üzen, in order to reveal the importance of the grove on a national and international level, the plants in the area need to be observed for all four seasons to find out whether there are endemic species among them.
The associate professor said the trees in the grove should be cared for by people with expertise in tree pruning. Üzen also noted that 16 trees in the grove died last year because they were unable to tolerate snow and winds.
In addition, Üzen suggested that a museum of natural history, which is lacking in Turkey, could be established in Validebağ Grove. Such a museum would not only help the protection of the grove but it would also make it a point of attraction for domestic and foreign tourists.
Creek suffers from contamination
Running through the middle of the grove is a creek, which has been contaminated by waste water from the construction of the tunnels of the Sancaktepe-Üsküdar metro line.
In February, the İstanbul branches of the Chamber of Environmental Engineers (ÇMO), the Chamber of Architects and the Validebağ Volunteers released a report saying that waste water had seeped into the Validebağ Grove Creek and reached illegal levels of pollution in the first-degree natural protection area.
The report revealed that the quality of water in the green space was categorized as class four water quality -- the worst classification possible -- when measured by the Law of Surface Water Quality Management criteria.
In addition to the alarming level of pollution, it was also revealed that cement and aggregate waste have entered the creek to the extent that returning the creek to a healthy state is impossible in the foreseeable future.
The water pollution has resulted in a detrimental effect on the grove`s ecological system, especially on the area`s bird population.
Within the borders of the grove, there are additional buildings of the Haydarpaşa Industrial High School and the Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital. In the adjacent land that once was part of the grove, construction of tall buildings continues at a fast pace.
The opening of the grove to construction over the past 50 years has enraged locals with environmental concerns who have taken action to protect the remaining green space in the area. Through their efforts, Validebağ Grove was declared a first-degree natural protection area in 1999.
Mustafa Uğur Akman and his wife, Ülkü, who are residents of the area, have been acting as guardians of the grove for years. They are the founders of the Validebağ Volunteers, which was established in 2001 in order to protect the grove. The couple lives in an apartment facing the grove.
Akman, a lawyer, said he began to fight for the protection of Validebağ in 1986 after the grove sustained damage due to a large gathering organized by an association that year. He said people came to the area with 20 buses and had a picnic party there that resulted in serious damage to the trees in the area. Akman said those individuals also left a lot of trash behind and broke tree branches, a situation that prompted him to petition the governor`s office not to allow such activities in the grove again.
Akman also said that he, along with other locals, was involved in a four-year legal battle to ensure the demolition of sports facilities in the area constructed in 2003 by a mass-housing complex next to the grove.
“We won the case, but we could not find any authority that would demolish the facilities. A tennis court that was illegally constructed in the area still remains there,” he said.
| Themes |
| • ESC rights • Neighborhood rehabilitation / upgrading • Other • Population transfers • Privatization • Regional • Right to the city • Urban planning |
