News Centre The AKP has added yet another chapter to its record of environmental destruction and land-speculation policies. By presidential decree, a total of 43 million square metres of forest land across 27 provinces has been excluded from forest protection. Ankara topped the list of areas affected, with 38.8 million square metres.
The natural environments of Muğla, Mersin and Istanbul also face the threat of profit-driven development and urbanisation. The AKP regime, which has opened up forest areas to urbanisation and profit-driven projects, is pressing ahead with its plans at full speed. Under Presidential Decree No.
11787, published in the Official Gazette, 4,300 hectares – equivalent to 43 million square metres – of forest land across 27 provinces were excluded from forest boundaries. Whilst this represents the largest area ever excluded from forest boundaries in a single decree, it was revealed that over 90 per cent of the area is located in Kızılcahamam, Ankara. The decree, based on the controversial Additional Article 16 of the Forestry Act, has drawn criticism.
Environmental organisations and conservationists, asking “What scientific and technical assessments were carried out?”, stated that forest ecosystems cannot be compensated for simply by calculating square metres. THE CAPITAL CITY TOPPED THE LIST Afyonkarahisar, Ankara, Balıkesir, Bingöl, Bolu, Bursa, Çorum, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Eskişehir, Gümüşhane, Isparta, Istanbul, Karaman, Kayseri, Konya, Kütahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mersin, Muğla, Sinop, Sivas, Tokat, Trabzon and Uşak have also seen growing backlash following the removal of certain areas from forest boundaries. According to the calculations included in the annex to the decision, the total area amounts to approximately 43 million square metres, or 4,300 hectares.
Under the decision, approximately 3,882 hectares – or more than 90 per cent – of the areas excluded from the forest boundary are located in Kızılcahamam, Ankara. In Muğla, where pressure from tourism and property speculation is at its highest, certain areas in Fethiye, Köyceğiz, Menteşe, Milas and Ortaca are also covered by the decision. In Mersin, certain areas in Erdemli, Mut, Silifke and Yenişehir have been excluded from the forest boundaries.
Whilst certain areas in Beykoz, Pendik, Sultanbeyli and Ümraniye in Istanbul are also included in the regulation, it was noted that industrial and Anatolian cities such as Bursa, Sivas, Afyonkarahisar and Eskişehir are among the other provinces covered by the decision. The decision stipulates that an area at least twice the size of those excluded from forest boundaries must be allocated to the General Directorate of Forests for afforestation. Accordingly, it is planned to allocate land from properties under state control or in the private ownership of the Treasury, and for these areas to be afforested by the General Directorate of Forests.
However, experts have pointed out that a forest ecosystem cannot be assessed solely on the basis of area size. THE LARGEST AMOUNT Associate Professor Dr Cihan Erdönmez from the Faculty of Forestry at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa stated in a post on his social media account that the decision had resulted in 4,300 hectares being removed from forest boundaries, noting that this was the largest single removal to date under Article 16 of the Forestry Act. Erdönmez said, “Article 16 was added to the Act in 2018.
Up to now, the total area of forest land excluded from forest boundaries under this provision was just over 5,000 hectares. With this decision, the largest single-instance exclusion of forest land from forest boundaries has taken place.” Erdönmez noted that approximately 3,882 hectares of the areas excluded under the decision are located in Kızılcahamam. Erdönmez pointed out that Article 16 of the Annex stipulates that state-owned land at least twice the size of the excluded area must be allocated to the General Directorate of Forests; however, he noted that the decision texts contain no information regarding the specific locations of these areas, and that the General Directorate of Forests has not informed the public on this matter.
Erdönmez pointed out that the total amount of afforestation carried out outside forest boundaries between 2021 and 2025 was 3,192 hectares, noting that this figure was less than the area excluded from forest boundaries in Kızılcahamam alone. Erdönmez commented: “It takes many years to offset the loss of ecosystem services resulting from the removal of a forest area from the forest boundaries by afforesting a non-forest area to create a forest. Furthermore, afforesting state-owned land suitable for forestry is already a constitutional duty of the state.
There is no need to remove a forested area from the forest boundaries in order to fulfil this duty.” The Polen Ecology Collective also reacted to the decision, stating, “The state continues its destruction of forests.” Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Bir gecede rekor orman kıyımı, published in BirGün newspaper on September 18, 2026.
