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Climate Expert Algedik Challenges ABB Official’s Claims Over Road Project
🇹🇷 Turkey /Environment & Climate

Climate Expert Algedik Challenges ABB Official’s Claims Over Road Project

From Cumhuriyet · () Turkish

Translated from Turkish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Bilkent-İncek ring-road connection project in Ankara has returned to the public agenda, with construction machinery operating again on the approximately 4.8-kilometer route.
  • ABB official Ertuğrul Candaş said the municipality lacks planning authority within the ODTÜ campus area and plans to complete infrastructure and asphalt work.
  • Climate expert Önder Algedik disputed that account, citing municipal planning decisions and procurement records.

A dispute over Ankara’s Bilkent-İncek ring-road connection has intensified after climate and energy expert Önder Algedik challenged statements by Ankara Metropolitan Municipality planning official Ertuğrul Candaş.

The project, initiated under former Ankara mayor Melih Gökçek, has drawn public opposition because part of the route passes through the ODTÜ Forest. Construction began in 2017 on the roughly 4.8-kilometer road. Lawsuits reached the Council of State but were rejected, and the project went to tender again in 2021 and 2025. Construction machinery has now returned to the site.

Candaş told Cumhuriyet that the municipality has no authority to prepare zoning plans within ODTÜ land. He said the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry approved the plans, courts ruled that the road was necessary, and the ministry instructed the municipality to open it. ABB, he said, would complete the infrastructure and lay the asphalt.

The municipality cannot remove this road even if it wants to.

— Ertuğrul CandaşCandaş described the legal and planning constraints surrounding the Bilkent-İncek road project.

Candaş also said Mayor Mansur Yavaş had taken an environmentally positive step by planning an ecological bridge, despite the bridge not appearing in the original project. He described a structure measuring between 700 meters and one kilometer that would reconnect the separated part of the ODTÜ campus and allow wildlife to cross. He also argued that the road could ease pressure on Ankara’s congested roads, including routes serving Bilkent City Hospital.

Algedik rejected Candaş’s account, saying it presented information that conflicted with municipal documents. He pointed to a zoning decision approved unanimously by Ankara’s municipal council on August 12, 2020, and to a construction tender issued in August 2021. He also disputed Candaş’s description of the court process, saying ABB had defended the project during Yavaş’s tenure.

Even when each claim is examined, it can be seen that it does not align with municipal data, council decisions and official statistics.

— Önder AlgedikAlgedik criticized Candaş’s statements about the road project.
About this summary

Originally published by Cumhuriyet in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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