Berkay Sağol
Public facilities and land continue to be being sold off one by one. This area, located in the Balıkesir Akçay district, belonging to the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and within walking distance of the Akçay coast, was sold by the Privatization Administration. According to information published in the Official Gazette, this area, approximately 15,000 square meters in size, was sold for 741 million 640 thousand TL.
The Privatization Administration states that the Akçay Education and Recreation Facility includes a swimming pool, an administrative building, various workshops, and 12 protected sycamore trees. Members of the United Transportation Workers’ Union (BTS) had previously staged a protest in front of the facility, stating that this area belongs to the public and should not be handed over to capital as a 60-year symbol of solidarity.
Former BTS General Secretary İsmail Özdemir stated that the union had filed a lawsuit against the privatization of this area, but the lawsuit was dismissed. Özdemir said, “Unfortunately, for the last twenty years, the government has been privatizing public institutions and organizations and transferring their land to its allies. In response to this situation, we have filed lawsuits against the transfers with our union responsibility and had the transfers from previous years canceled. However, in recent years, the lawsuits we have filed have resulted in favor of the transferred capital and community groups, against the institutions. The institution managers sign the transfers without any dissenting opinion. This is a historical injustice. In recent years, 49,000 square meters of land in the Ankara Gar area was sold to Medipol University, Haydarpaşa and Sirkeci to the Ministry of Culture, and Akçay to another capital group. These institutions and organizations are public property and provide public benefit. This facility was a place where employees received training in the winter and where railway workers vacationed with their families and de-stressed during the summer. Now it belongs to a private company,“ he said.
Özdemir said, ”The only thing we can say about this sale is that, unfortunately, the public interest is being ignored. There are 12 registered and protected sycamore trees in the camp. These trees have been numbered. Perhaps tomorrow this area will be completely transformed into a concrete jungle. Because capital will prioritize its own interests. Railway workers are saddened by this sale. Our salaries are barely enough to survive. People don’t earn enough money to go somewhere else for vacation during the summer months. Consequently, the place where railway workers could spend a week’s vacation with their families has been taken away from them.”
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Demiryolları tesisi resmen satıldı, published in BirGün newspaper on November 20, 2025.
