RNA - According to the local 'Todays Zaman' Daily, the CHP's Rıdvan Karakayalı, who lost to the AK Party's Arif Uğurlu in the March 30, 2013 mayoral elections in Kemalpaşa, had started the mosque construction project just before the elections, on an area of 3,300 square meters. However, Mayor Uğurlu decided to cancel the project on the grounds that the area would not be enough to construct a mosque, and the area was paved with cobblestone.
Thereupon, Engin claimed that the real reason behind the cancelation decision was that Mayor Uğurlu wanted to derive personal benefits by building a shopping mall on the same area.
“We, as the CHP municipality, started a great project before the elections. Yet after the AKP [AK Party] won the local elections, they came and canceled the project, saying that the area was too valuable for a mosque and should be used for something more valuable." Engin noted.
"One can clearly see the hypocrisy here," he added. "The AKP does not engage in a project from which they cannot make personal gains. The best example of this is the Validebağ Grove. They want to open that area for construction although it is a protected zone. Thus, they have been trying to build a mosque there just to legitimatize the destruction they've caused in the eyes of the public by exploiting sacred values,”
On Oct. 30, excavators and workers from the AK Party-run Üsküdar Municipality entered the Altunizade neighborhood of İstanbul's Üsküdar district, with the protection of police officers, to demolish a parking lot near the entrance of the Validebağ Grove, a first-degree protected green space, and construct a mosque in its place.
“I see that they already paved this area with cobblestone. But in the upcoming months they will open it up for the construction of a shopping mall,” Engin added. Mayor Uğurlu denied Engin's claims, however, saying that there is no current plan for any project to construct a shopping mall in the area.
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