Preparations for the COP31 climate summit, set to be held in Antalya on Nov. 9-20, are fueling controversy over costs, procurement methods and forced land seizures.
Contracts awarded so far for the summit, to be hosted at the EXPO grounds in Antalya's Aksu district, have neared 10 billion Turkish lira. The largest single contract — 8.085 billion lira for construction, infrastructure and landscaping at the EXPO site — was won by Özyazıcı İnşaat in a tender organized by the state housing authority TOKİ on April 14. A separate road and transport tender, also run by TOKİ, went to Föy İnşaat for 1.099 billion lira. Both contracts were signed on April 24 and are to be completed within 150 days.
The winning firms are familiar names in government contracting: Özyazıcı İnşaat has known business ties to the Kalyon family group, while Föy İnşaat previously secured tenders for the presidential lodge grounds in Bitlis and Istanbul's Maiden's Tower coastal protection works.
All major tenders were awarded under Article 21/B of the Public Procurement Law, a negotiated procedure formally reserved for natural disasters and emergencies. Critics have long characterized this method as a vehicle for directing contracts to favored companies.
On May 8, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed an order expropriating roughly 64,635 square meters of agricultural land in Aksu's Solak neighborhood for summit parking and infrastructure. Construction machinery had reportedly already begun work in the area before the expropriation order was published. A parliamentary amendment passed on May 7 added further tax and customs exemptions covering all imports and procurement for the conference.
