Country’s largest city garden to be opened soon: Minister

ISTANBUL

Atatürk Airport Public Garden, the country’s largest city park where construction works have been ongoing for a while, will be opened soon, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has stated.

The works at the park, which will be the fifth largest city park in the world, have come to an end, Kurum noted, saying: “We are counting days for our country’s largest city park. We will open the first stage of our Atatürk Airport Public Garden with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”

The park is built on an area of 2 million square meters, including its green areas, closed areas of about 70,000 square meters and social facilities.

Disaster gathering areas have also been created in the garden, as it will have a capacity of 40,000 tents that can accommodate about 165,000 people in case of any disaster.

In Istanbul, where nearly 16 million people live, the possibility of a large-scale quake has been on the agenda since the Feb. 6 quakes.

“Atatürk Airport Public Garden can be entered from nine different points. There will be greenhouses and gardens at its entrances. Natural products will be able to be grown in these greenhouses. Citizens will be able to obtain natural products from here if they want. There will be an artificial stream called Ab-ı Hayat Suyu with a length of about 2.5 kilometers in the south-north direction,” Kurum explained.

“In addition, viewing terraces, picnic areas and resting areas will be created along the riverside,” the minister added.

Visitors will be able to benefit from bicycle and walking paths and playgrounds in the garden, while tennis, basketball and volleyball courts, skate-boarding tracks and exhibition halls are also established.