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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has given orders to the relevant ministries to preserve İstanbul's historic skyline, which is under threat by new constructions that are often tall buildings or skyscrapers that loom behind the city's centuries-old mosques and their minarets.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay, said in televised remarks on Wednesday, “Giant buildings across İstanbul are damaging the city's skyline.

Considering this, the prime minister has given instructions to the İstanbul municipalities to come up with plans to preserve the historic skyline.” He noted that measures to protect the city's skyline could include demolishing existing buildings where necessary.

Recalling that 10 stories of the İstanbul Park Hotel in Taksim's Gümüşsuyu district were demolished in 1993 on the orders of then-İstanbul Mayor Nurettin Sözen, Günay stated that no buildings that spoil the skyline will remain in the city under a similar initiative.

Günay also made statements regarding the future of İstanbul İnönü Stadium, which belongs to the Beşiktaş football club. Günay warned the club's board, saying if they start rebuilding the stadium as planned, the property will be expropriated. Günay explained the reason behind a recent decision by the Culture and Tourism Ministry's Cultural and Natural Assets Conservation Board disallowing the project, saying, “There are many historical artifacts underneath the stadium that will be damaged if it is rebuilt.”

“This stadium was constructed under the single-party regime. During this period, they gave permission to build it [the stadium] on a very historic site,” Günay said, and stated that today's civil society would not permit such a project.

Cihan