Works to transform Atatürk Airport into massive green space kicks off

ISTANBUL

The area of Atatürk Airport, which has been replaced by the new Istanbul Airport, will be turned into one of the largest parks in the world, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has said.

Saplings will be planted in the area soon, Kurum said in a message on his social media accounts.

“The largest of the Nation’s Gardens in Turkey, which will be built on Istanbul Atatürk Airport, has been counting days to meet with the first batch of saplings,” he said, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend the opening ceremony.

The new national park will be one of the greenest places in the world with 132,500 trees on an area of more than 5 million square meters, the minister noted.

“The Nation’s Garden will help us in our fight against the effects of the climate change, and it will be Istanbul’s major post-disaster gathering area,” Kurum said.

Atatürk Airport, which was opened as an airfield 110 years ago, was closed to commercial passenger flights on April 6, 2019, when all flights were transferred to the new Istanbul Airport. Since then, the airport has been open only for maintenance, general aviation, air taxis, business flights and state and diplomatic aircraft.