DIDIM Council is eyeing up a major campaign to stop potential development of a vast swathe of recreation land close to Altinkum.

Parcel 1020 – the parcel number of the land in question – is located at the back of the Ruby Hill complex, just off the bottom of Ataturk Boulevard.

Parcel 1020: The land in question to be released to the private sector

The land – which extends and borders part of Hunters Valley and to be about 120,000 sqm – is owned by the government’s Treasury department.

But the Treasury recently handed the rights of the land over to a government department called the Privatization Agency.

This agency has the authority to sell land on to interested and private owners. This is generally interpreted as a final stop before land is sold off to private operators – potentially developers.

A meeting of councilors from all parties was held last Wednesday and the united message was the need to protect the green belt/recreation land at all costs.

The meeting included Didim Mayor Deniz Atabay, deputy Mayor Salih Bankoğlu, AK Party District Chairman Cenk, CHP District Chairman Gökmen Karatas, Didim Municipality councilors, representatives of non-governmental organizations, environmental organization and union representatives, as well as architects and engineers.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Atabay said there was no real knowing of who the land could or would be sold on to.

But he said that its proximity to the Altinkum neighborhood and the fact it was seen as a recreation land was important to the town.

He said: “The potential for 118,000 m2 of land to become open to development in this place makes us uneasy. We cannot interfere with the Privatization Agency regarding the development plans of this place.

“But we want parcel 1020 to remain a recreation area, a place where you can breathe in Didim.”

Plans to form a sub-committee to oversee and actively review the issue was backed.