As Turkish opposition presses ahead with a rare instance of opposing a project to make Istanbul greener, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged to start the work on a new public garden, on May 29, the anniversary of the city’s conquest by Ottomans.

The Public Garden, a name given to large urban parks by the government, will be built on the site of Atatürk Airport, the former aviation hub of the city which is now engulfed by heavily populated areas. When bulldozers entered the site earlier this week to start the work, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) had opposed the move and staged a protest. The party claims the government wants to remove a "national treasure" by converting the now largely-defunct airport into a park with a sprawling forest.

Addressing the parliamentary group meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Wednesday, Erdoğan criticized the opposition for "resorting to a myriad of lies" against the planned park. Canan Kaftancıoğlu, head of CHP’s Istanbul branch who led Tuesday’s protest at the airport, had claimed that the removal of the airport was a reflection of "enmity toward Atatürk" (the founder of Republic of Turkey) while Good Party (İP) echoed a similar sentiment, claiming the government was "scared even by the name of Atatürk." Erdoğan said the airport was named Yeşilköy (after the neighborhood it was located) up until the 1980 coup and like critics of the current move, "putschists also sought to hide their (real intentions) behind the name of Atatürk."

The president said the opposition was already against Istanbul Airport, a new, larger airport that replaced Atatürk Airport as the main airport of the city. "Istanbul Airport’s cargo area solely is larger than Atatürk Airport and a runway of Atatürk Airport will remain open to serve the needs of a nearby hospital," he said.

Erdoğan called the opposition to the new public garden "for purpose of environmentalism" "absolutely absurd" and accused the CHP of treason for threatening "everyone" over the public garden project. Kılıçdaroğlu had earlier tweeted that the project was "a treason" and had vowed they would "particularly take care" of the contractor of the bulldozers sent to the airport for commencement of the public garden project.

The president said he would be at the airport to plant the first tree for the new park on May 29, where he would also join others to celebrate the anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest.