Outrage.

Haydarpasa Railway Station in Istanbul stands on the Asian waterfront in the district of Kadikoy. It is a grand and imposing Neo-Classical building and the terminus for train journeys from Anatolia and Asia beyond. Designed by Otto Ritter and Helmuth Cuno and built in 1909, Haydarpasa was a gift from Kaiser Wilhelm to Sultan Abdul Hamit II. Here, the Bosporus joins the Sea of Marmara, overlooked on the European shore by Sultanahmet Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, all built on the Historic Peninsula, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since ancient times, the Bosporus has linked the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, and is one of the busiest, most beautiful shipping routes in the world. The two shores combine Istanbul's twin continents, the meeting of Eastern and Western civilisations.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

North of Haydarpasa and dominating the area lie the Selimiye Barracks. They were used as a military hospital during the Crimean War and the rooms which Florence Nightingale occupied house a small museum. Also prominent in this part of Kadikoy is the former Haydarpasa High School, designed by Raimondo D'Aronco c1900 and the largest of his many buildings in Istanbul. Now it is home to the medical faculty of Marmara University. The British Crimean War Cemetery and the vast Karaca Ahmet cemetery are also close by. In late 2000, the Greater Istanbul Municipality ran a national one-phase competition for the redevelopment of a two-kilometre swathe of land linking Kadikoy, Haydarpasa and Harem (to the north), with the aim of reinstating Kadikoy square as the main transportation hub, and reviving its historical and cultural identity. Sixty projects were submitted and a winner announced in June 2001. Since then, the winning scheme has been jettisoned, to be replaced by a design shrouded in secrecy but apparently by Sefik Birkiye of Atelier d'Art Urbain in Brussels.

Seven huge skyscrapers 350m tall will dominate and overshadow their historic surroundings. The railway lines will be cut off and a new station built three kilometres away at Sogutlucesme, which will become the major transport hub when the new metro extends under the Bosporus. There are no plans to keep Haydarpasa linked to the system by a light railway, as some had hoped.

It appears the current government is pushing ahead with this outrageous scheme in the face of opposition from all sides. Kadikoy municipality (one of the two largest in Istanbul) is against the project, but has been overruled. The Monuments Board has rejected it and is planning court action to stop it, but the fear is that by the time they win their court case, the towers will be up. With over 7000 architects visiting Istanbul for the UIA Congress last month, the local Chamber of Architects was furiously collecting signatures in the hope that a petition might stop this monstrous project from going ahead. But a new law was pushed through on 21 September 2004 taking responsibility for the project out of the hands of the Istanbul Municipality and giving the Ministry of Housing and Public Works sole right of veto (empowering them to proceed without any form of public consultation). This happened in the middle of the night, so avoiding press coverage, and, because of the secrecy, making it impossible for anyone to appeal, and rendering the Mayor of Istanbul powerless to object.

The people of Istanbul must act quickly to prevent this outrage being built, so destroying the city's ancient silhouette. Only once before has a skyscraper been pulled down--the illegally built Park Hotel--when German diplomatic pressure was brought to bear (it was next door to their consulate). More recently, public protests and a giant human chain failed to stop construction of what is now the Ritz Carlton, a real blight on the European-side skyline and nicknamed the Sky Cage after the object perched on its roof. It seems that much louder and stronger protests are urgently needed to stop these Manhattan-style towers from ruining the Asian shore of Istanbul and the historic entrance to the Bosporus. If this scheme goes ahead, Istanbul may be crossed off the World Heritage Site listing (no city ever has been) and threat of losing this status could be the only action which can halt this outrage.