Court halts execution of plan covering northern 'Green Road'

Turkey's Council of State has annulled a comprehensive environment regulation plan, including a 2,600-kilometer-long road construction, stating that the plan would pave the way for the commercialization of naturally protected areas in the Black Sea region.

Basing its arguments on an expert report, the Council of State said in its ruling that the Environment Regulation Plan, which covers six Black Sea provinces as well as the long-disputed Green Road project, would do nothing to protect natural areas such as forests, basins, agricultural and upland areas in the region, Do?an News Agency reported. 

The ruling came four years after the Turkish Foundation for Combatting Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats (TEMA), a nongovernmental organization fighting for environmental sustainability, filed a lawsuit with the Council of State in late 2011 against the regulation plan drafted by the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry in August 2011 for six Black Sea provinces: Rize, Artvin, Trabzon, Gümü?hane, Giresun and Ordu.

TEMA, however, told the Hürriyet Daily News that it had not received any official document validating the issuance of the Council of State ruling.

The expert report stated that the plan took into account the quality of urban life rather than a sustainable way of life. The Green Road project conspicuously included plans to construct restaurants, hotels and ski resorts.

The Environment Regulation Plan was first drafted by the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry in August 2011 before TEMA filed an appeal into 36 articles of the regulation plan, but yielded no results.

TEMA then filed a lawsuit with the Council of State demanding the cancelation and suspension of the...