Kazlıçeşme rally area in Istanbul to be open to construction

Gülistan Alagöz ISTANBUL

Main opposition CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu holds a rally in Istanbul’s Kazlıçeşme neighborhood in this file photo. The area will be opened to construction.

A rally area in Istanbul’s coastal province of Zeytinburnu, which was recently built by filling in the Marmara Sea with soil, is set to be opened to construction.

The Kazlıçeşme rally area, which covers 141,000 square meters, will be open to construction after the Istanbul greater municipality approved the plans from the Zeytinburnu Municipality.

Leather producers, who were removed from the area 22 years ago, still formally own 72,000 square meters worth of land there, while the state owns 28,000 square meters.

Municipality officials said the area had been redistributed to the land owners who were removed from the area in the new construction plans, adding that it could be used for tourism, trade and residential projects.