1 The Third Airport Project Vis-a-Vis Life, Nature, Environment, People and Law Prepared by: Northern Forests Defense March 2015, Istanbul 2 NORTHERN FORESTS DEFENSE Northern Forests Defense (NFD / KOS) is a movement that advocates for the protection of the ecologically interconnected and diverse area extending from Sapanca to Strandzha Mountains consisting of the last forest lands, watersheds, and farm lands along with many endemic plant and animal species. In accordance with this goal, it has established itself as a movement that organizes and fights against any urban or rural project that does not take nature, reason or science into account, regardless of its scale or justification, while making sure its focus stays on northern İstanbul. NFD, founded in July 2013 as part of the rising struggle against the urban and environmental plunder that has become even more visible after the Gezi Park resistance, tries to bring those working to protect their living spaces in their own region against the “creative destruction” of the capital together. At the same time, it tries to ensure that knowledge and experience are shared among defenders of life. NFD is against all kinds of projects that destroy ecosystems, including but not limited to the “mega projects” such as the 3rd bridge, Canal Istanbul, and the 3rd airport. Within this framework, to be able to defend the rights of the communities living in the rural north as a part of nature, NFD builds solidarity with every individual and organization that thinks, acts and organizes in accordance with similar goals and tries to amplify the resistance by standing together with them. In addition, NFD defends nature with its animals, insects and plants, briefly all beings, in not only Istanbul and Turkey but also on a global scale. NFD is independent of all kinds of economic, political or ideological organizations. It makes its decisions in its widely announced weekly forums that are open to everyone and in which each individual has equal rights to speak and participate in the decision-making processes. NFD advocates for self-governance and tries to put this philosophy into practice within itself, and in all areas of life. In parallel with this, it rejects all hierarchy adopting an organizational system where the distribution of the tasks is alternated. 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1. AIRPORT OR “URBAN COMPLEX”? ................................................................................................ 11 1.1 In Whose Interest Is Such A Big Airport? ............................................................................... 11 1.2. Mega Projects Package Program ................................................................................................ 15 2. A GENERAL OUTLOOK ON THE AIRPORT PROJECT ........................................................................ 18 3. THE ECOSYSTEM VIS-A-VIS THE PROJECT ...................................................................................... 23 3.1. Forests / Green Lands ................................................................................................................. 24 3.2. Water Basins ............................................................................................................................... 29 3.3. Wetlands .................................................................................................................................... 31 3.4. The Impacts on the Climate-Heat Island-Air Pollution ............................................................... 36 3.5. Flora and Fauna .......................................................................................................................... 37 3.6. Birds ............................................................................................................................................ 39 4. AIRWORTHINESS RISKS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..42 4.1. Birds and the Airworthiness Risk ................................................................................................ 42 4.2. Airworthiness Risks Stemming from Meteorological Conditions ............................................... 45 4.3. Airworthiness Risks Stemming from the Particular Soil Structure, Fillings, Grades, Landslides 47 5. THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF THE THIRD AIRPORT ………………………………………………………………….….50 5.1. A General Outlook to the Future ................................................................................................ 50 5.2. Turkish Economy According to Credit Rating Agencies .............................................................. 52 5.4. What do the country risks and Turkey’s credit default swaps (CDS’s) say? ............................... 55 5.5. The Drawbacks of the Public-Private Partnership (KÖİ) Model with Respect to Country’s Economy ............................................................................................................................................ 56 5.6. Airport Project and Transparency .............................................................................................. 58 5.7. “The Fate of the Mega Airport Depends on Growth” ................................................................ 59 6. CAN GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF STATES AIRPORT AUTHORITY (DHMİ) SURMOUNT THE 3rd AIRPORT PROJECT? ................................................................................................................................ 62 6.1. Site Delivery ................................................................................................................................ 62 6.2. Financial Standing ....................................................................................................................... 63 6.3. The Deception that “the 3rd Airport Project is out of the coverage of Treasury guarantee” ..... 64 6.4 DHMİ’s Legal History: Its 24 employees including the General Manager are engaged in lawsuits upon determination of irregularity in 9 tenders! .............................................................................. 67 7. THE LAW ........................................................................................................................................ 69 7.1. EIA Camouflage for the Massacre .............................................................................................. 70 7.2 The Big Pelf before the Start of the Project ................................................................................ 72 4 7.3. A Project Arisen Against the Law ............................................................................................... 72 8. LOCAL COMMUNITY AND JUDICIAL PROCESS ............................................................................... 75 8.1. Nonsuits for TOKİ’s (Mass Housing Development Administration of Turkey) Expropriation .... 75 8.2. The Lands of the Villagers Usurped by Urgent Expropriation .................................................... 76 8.3. Lawsuits Brought Against Urgent Expropriation: There is No Public Benefit / Is There Warfare? ........................................................................................................................................................... 76 9. CONSORTIUM PARTNERS LİMAK-KOLİN-CENGİZ-MAPA-KALYON EVERYWHERE / PILLAGE AND SHADY BUSINESS EVERYWHERE! ........................................................................................................... 79 9.1. Land Speculation in the Area and Land Pillage by Favor of TOKİ ............................................... 79 9.2. The Suspension of the Land Speculation Investigation / the Release of the Interim Injunction on Estates .......................................................................................................................................... 80 9.3. The Formation of the Pool Media and Other Unlawfulnesses ................................................... 80 9.4. The Other Environmental Pillages and Human Rights Violations of the Consortium Members 82 10. AND THE HUMAN: “When the last lime tree is cut…” ................................................................... 92 EPILOGUE............................................................................................................................................... 94 CHARTS Chart 1. The sizes of the busiest airports in the world. ......................................................................... 12 Chart 2. Airworthiness Risk. .................................................................................................................. 42 Chart 3. The strike risk to be caused by the migratory birds passing over Istanbul: The traffic volume is assumed the same as Atatürk Airport here. ...................................................................................... 44 Chart 4. Ernst & Young July 2014 Report - Turkey, The riskiest country in terms of debt growth / GNP ratio. ...................................................................................................................................................... 54 Chart 5. Five Year CDS Data of the Countries ........................................................................................ 56 FIGURES Figure 1. The sizes of the busiest airports in the world. ....................................................................... 12 Figure 2. The location of the Canal and the distance between the