The area occupied by the Presidential Palace with its additional buildings, which is criticized for its establishment on the natural protected lands of the historical Atatürk Forest Farm, has increased to 310,000 square meters from 60,000 square meters within five years.
The Court of Accounts has confirmed that the Atatürk Forest Farm with its 148 tenants has had problems with controlling the rented areas. Moreover, the Court of Accounts has found that lot and block numbers of some areas are not even included in the contracts.
The lands in the ownership of the Secretariat General of the Presidency have reached a total of 309,602 square meters as two separate lots of 132,368 and 177,234 square meters, according to the 2016 Report. The Secretariat General of the Presidency annually pays 782,176 TL to the Atatürk Forest Farm for these immovable properties regarded as land and buildings. The termination date of the land lease agreement for these areas has been determined as February 11, 2030.
In the Court of Accounts’ report, it is stated that the lands of the Atatürk Forest Farm, which was about 55,540 decares on May 5, 1925, decreased to 33,256 decares as a consequence of land transfers or sales. Accordingly, the loss of the Atatürk Forest Farm’s lands has decreased about 40 percent.
The report also indicates that some fragmented areas have emerged due to land degradation, and these areas have become sites that have caused some problems to be operated because they disrupt the integrity of the land.
According to the report, the lands have been sold, transferred, allocated or left idle to other persons and institutions in contradiction to the public interest, sale or transfer purposes specified in the law.
The Presidential Palace, which is 30 times larger than the White House and used by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since 2014, was built inside Atatürk Forest Farm on the outskirts of Ankara. Its construction in the protected area was barred by the courts, so it is regularly referred as the "Illegal Palace", meaning "Kaçak Saray" in Turkish.
Ankara Chamber of Architects President Tezcan Karakuş Candan previously told that any construction in Atatütk Forest Farm would be illegal. She also said this would be against Atatürk’s legacy, as it was a national heritage site established and donated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
