ONUR BURÇAK BELLİ
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News

A turf war and a bureaucratic mix-up involving the Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ) and a foundation has resulted in the same plot of land being allocated for a school and a road in Istanbul's Halkalı district.
In a case that went before an Istanbul judge both TOKİ and the Turkish Plastic Industry Research Development and Training Foundation (PAGEV) argued that the land belonged to them.
PAGEV's decision to establish a vocational school to support the sector was backed by the Istanbul Governor's Office which gave it a 20000-square meter plot in Halkalı district in the European side of the city.
Construction of the PAGEV Halkalı Anatolia Plastic Vocational High School began on May 6 2006 with the interior minister at the time Abdülkadir Aksu in attendance.
In 2007 TOKİ's Istanbul office awarded a tender for the building of a road infrastructure and environment project to Tisan Construction Company. The decision was made public by the Greater Istanbul Municipality on Jan. 20.
According to the law one can object within 30 days of its being made public and PAGEV did just that because the plans showed one of the roads would pass right through the school's garden and over the building's drainage system.
�Everything was proceeding well until one day the contractor called us and said there was a change in Halkalı's construction plans and that the construction of a road was to be carried out right next to one of the façades of the school� said Barbaros Demirci PAGEV secretary general noting that they had a month to object to the new planning project and they did; however TOKİ started construction activity that ruined all the drainage systems of their school before the legal objection period ended.
However the matter of who was legally in the right was not known and the matter was taken to court.
TOKİ Regional Director Murat Kurum denied the claims and said �We are carrying out the construction activity in accordance with the current construction plans. The problem might be with their plans. The truth will be revealed after the court process.�
Despite the fact that Kurum confirmed there had been amendments to the project that might have confused PAGEV he argued PAGEV had ignored the changes. The court now has the final say on who is right and which project can proceed unchanged.