"We're invisible in their plans": Residents fight back as Istanbul's metro expansion reshapes neighbourhoods

For three decades, Müzeyyen Kaya has run a small bakery on Cebieci Sokak in Bahçelievler, serving the morning crowds before they head to offices across the district. Next month, according to the latest Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality plans, construction crews will begin excavating directly beneath her street as part of the city's expanding metro network. She doesn't yet know how long her business can survive the disruption.

"Nobody from the municipality came to ask us anything," said Kaya, echoing frustrations shared by dozens of shopkeepers, residents, and business owners across the neighbourhoods affected by the proposed 26-kilometre extension. "We read about it in the newspapers like everyone else."

The new metro line, designed to connect Bahçelievler through Aksaray to Küçükçekmece, forms part of Istanbul's ambitious transport infrastructure plan aimed at reducing traffic congestion in a city where the average commute has ballooned to 47 minutes. City officials project the line will serve 450,000 daily passengers by 2030. Yet for residents and merchants along the route, the conversation has been notably one-sided.

"The compensation framework they published online is vague," said Ahmet Demir, president of the Aksaray Chamber of Commerce. "For shop owners like us, losing six to eighteen months of income during construction—how is that even calculated? They offer relocation packages that don't reflect actual market rents in this area."

The timing adds pressure. Istanbul's rental market has surged 40% over the past three years, and small businesses already squeezed by inflation now face the prospect of temporary closure or relocation. The municipality has allocated 2.3 billion Turkish lire for the project, but community groups argue community impact assessments remain incomplete.

Some residents acknowledge the long-term necessity. "Yes, we need better transport," said Fatima Özdemir, a grandmother who commutes daily from Küçükçekmece to care for grandchildren in Bahçelievler. "But they should have listened to us first. This affects our daily lives. Our businesses. Our children's schools."

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Community Liaison Office has scheduled public consultations for July and August, though many affected residents say previous consultation efforts lacked meaningful engagement. Local neighbourhood associations are now formally requesting independent impact studies and transparent compensation mechanisms before excavation begins.

"Progress doesn't have to mean erasing us," Kaya said. "We just want to be part of the conversation about the city we built."

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