Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu responded to the allegations regarding the Kazım Karabekir-Topağacı-Ümraniye Sports Village Rail System Line Project. Stating that the project was not taken over from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Uraloğlu said, “Please, no one should try to inform or mislead the public with falsehoods and lies.”
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu examined the ongoing works on the İkizce Earthquake Housing Connection Roads within the scope of the Malatya provincial program. Minister Uraloğlu made a press statement here and said, “In terms of the need to build new settlements resulting from the earthquakes that occurred on February 6, the task of building the main transportation lines and infrastructures in certain regions together with the roads was given to our General Directorate of Highways. We are working in 8 provinces, one of which is here.”
2 Kilometers of Connection Roads in İkizce 29,5 Earthquake Housing Area Completed
Minister Uraloğlu, stating that they continue the construction of a total of 2 kilometers of road in the İkizce 44.3 Earthquake Housing Area, said, “As of now, 29,5 kilometers of the road has been completed. Hopefully, we will have reached a 32-kilometer section by the end of the month. Hopefully, we will have completed the whole thing by the end of the year.”
4,4 Billion Lira Project
Minister Uraloğlu gave information about the work done and announced that they continue infrastructure and superstructure works along with the road. Noting that they have also built many structures such as drinking water lines, sewage, dirty water lines, drainage lines, electricity lines, telecom lines and lighting lines, Uraloğlu said, “We are talking about a project worth approximately 4.4 billion liras. Within the scope of the project, we have planned 1 junctions on the D-2 highway to serve both OSB and TOKİ 300st and 2nd regions. We continue our work, there is no problem. As a result, when the houses are delivered to our citizens in this region, they will have the opportunity to reach from the asphalt road. Our goal is to complete both the houses and all these works by the end of the year.”
Minister Uraloğlu continued his statement by responding to the allegations regarding the Kazım Karabekir-Topağacı-Ümraniye Sports Village Rail System Line Project published in the Official Gazette dated March 21, 2025. Uraloğlu stated that the project was not taken over from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
Minister Uraloğlu stated that there was a process aimed at misinforming the public and made the following statements in his statement:
“As a ministry, we have a metro network of around 160 kilometers in Istanbul that we have completed. We also have two projects under construction. One of these is Arnavutköy Halkalı "It is a line of approximately 17 kilometers between. Another one is the 4-kilometer line that continues on Altunizade-Çamlıca Mosque-Bosna Boulevard. This is the place where speculation and false information is produced."
Minister Uraloğlu stated that they implemented the Altunizade-Çamlıca Mosque-Bosna Boulevard Metro as a Ministry and said, “However, in terms of urbanization and changing needs, a request came from our Ümraniye Municipality and Istanbul Governorship to extend this line to Topağacı Neighborhood, Kazım Karabekir Neighborhood and Ümraniye Sports Village. The metropolitan municipality is neither involved in the work nor in terms of demand, nor does it have a plan, nor a thought, nor a project… None of these exist. Upon this, we had started a project study to solve the needs of our citizens here, and we more or less developed that project study. It is a metro line of approximately 4,5 kilometers. This is to be done as a Ministry by receiving the authorization from our President.”
Minister Uraloğlu emphasized once again that the line in question has nothing to do with the Metropolitan Municipality and said, “We are doing something… For whom? We are doing it for our Istanbul. Therefore, please, no one should try to inform or mislead the public with falsehoods and lies. This is the truth, we continue on our path. We continue to serve our nation and our Istanbul, our focus is on business.”
