Physical transform project for Ulus district on standby
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Ankara’s Ulus district, famous as the birth place of modern Turkey's republican reforms, is targeted for urban transformation, but critics of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality’s project claim its purpose is to promote AKP's ideology
Major change in Hacı Bayram and Ulus' center The area's historic and tourist attractions are all located here. There is the Ankara Citadel and the first parliament building, which now serves as the War of Independence Museum. There is the city's oldest hotel Ankara Palas where modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stayed. There is the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, the Ankara Ethnography Museum and the Çıkrıkçılar Yokuşu, or Weavers' Road, where a myriad of goods ranging from traditional fabrics, hand-woven carpets and leather products can be found at bargain prices. The first phase of the project is being implemented in the area surrounding the Hacı Bayram Mosque. Most of this area, including the mosque, is protected. Officially registered structures and the protected areas will be kept intact in line with the project. The Hacı Bayram area will be converted into a large recreational area and trade venue through a series of restoration and landscape works. The building of offices, shops, a huge culture and congress complex, an underground parking lot and replicas of historic houses are planned as part of the project. The Roman style structures from the 1980s will be destroyed and new places will be built featuring Turkish architecture. The Hacı Bayram region has served as a religious center since the age of antiquity. The establishment of the Hacı Bayram Mosque here perpetuated this tradition. The region hosts many Roman remains, including the famous Temple of Augustus, and also features wood structures from the 19th century, rock buildings from the Republic Period and recently built ordinary buildings. According to the project's plans, a huge area will also be created to house Ulus' dolmuş stop, as well as Ulus’ symbolic marketplace Ulus Hali, an old permanent market where fresh fish, fruit, and vegetables are sold. |
The Ulus Urban Transformation Project remains among other transformation projects of Mamak, Dikmen, Oran and the North Ankara Entrance initiated by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to give the capital a fresher outlook. The Ulus project, launched in early 2008, will reshape the Ulus region with reconstruction, restoration and landscape work.
A court halted the project, but the region will undergo a radical physical change if a higher court lifts the ban. Even if the court permits the project, Ulus’ fate will still depend on future urban policy adopted by the next mayor elect, if current Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek isn’t re-elected.
The urban transformation is a project of the municipality, which is run by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. The Culture and Tourism Ministry is consulting on the project, which covers the region’s three major areas: the Hacı Bayram Mosque, Ulus' city center and Ankara Castle. The historic buildings will remain the same but the historic face of the region will change.
Ulus' center hosts many symbolic structures, such as the first parliament building and the city's oldest hotel Ankara Palas where modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stayed. It also has the iconic spheres where the republican reforms were born and from where the basic principles of modern and democratic Turkey spread.
Some buildings in the area already have been demolished and the municipality has paid YTL 60 million to those whose property was condemned as part of the project. The work will resume in line with the court’s decision, but the project has created controversy among officials, architects and shop owners in the area.
Physical, not social transformation
“The project solely anticipates a physical transformation, not a social change for the region, and is likely to destroy the historical texture of the region. The municipality looks to profit from the project,” architect Nimet Özgönül, chairman of the Ankara Branch of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, or TMMOB, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Özgönül criticized the municipality’s policy to destroy the structures, instead of restoring and improving them. She said existing projects should be further implemented, instead of starting a new project that would erase the structures and areas important to the capital’s history.
She said the areas included in the project actually signified the landmarks and public spheres where the municipality can reflect its political views.
“The municipality wants to reshape the places where the republican reforms were born, in line with their ideology,” she said.
“It condemns private property of locals and plans to destroy structures that are still in use. The transformation project is supposed to be in the public’s interest but it seems that advantages and outcomes wouldn’t be for the people with childhood memories of the region or who have tried to make their business in the area.”
Shop owners dissatisfied
Shop owners in the region likewise aren’t satisfied with the project. They said they would face displacement from their work, be forced to move to a distant place or have to pay higher prices to hire the new shops once the project is finished.
For municipal authorities, however, the move would bring a fresh outlook to the region.
“The project will restore the region’s historic texture and potential,” a municipal official told the Daily News. “The structures in the region don’t constitute a wholeness in appearance. They are all inharmonious buildings, and through the project the region will become a center of attraction for tourists and residents.”
When Ankara became the Turkish capital in 1923, Ulus marked its ancient center with buildings reflecting Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman history. Ulus, today, still marks the old section of the capital and preserves its authentic character through narrow winding streets, old houses and old shops selling traditional handicraft and historic sites.
The area has nowadays, however, become wrapped in a more commercial look with new banks, shops, malls, restaurants and hotels.
Reorganizing lower part of the castle The lower part of the Ankara Castle is another area reorganized as part of the project. A series of landscape and cleanup works will be carried out in and around the castle where an archaeological park will be established. The brothel in Bentderesi will be removed and the area, which was once a river and is now a main highway, will be revealed through an artificial system. One of the biggest changes will occur in the center of Ulus with well-known and symbolic shopping centers and structures planned for demolition. These include the 100th Year Shopping Center, the Anafartalar Shopping Center, the Modern Çarşı, which burned in 2003, the Youth and Sports General Directorate building and the Prime Ministry’s Undersecretariat of Customs. Instead, a huge commercial center will be established and a huge avenue will be created. The destroyed structures will be replaced with contemporary counterparts, gradually, in line with the changing needs of the area. “The social life of Ulus has already died. Shanty houses have filled the area, which don’t display proper scenery to fit the capital. The region should be re-utilized and re-opened for public use,” said the municipality official. |