New hotel on Bosporus poses threat to Dolmabahçe Palace

Seven of the 14-storey hotel's floors were built underground, damaging the basement of Dolmabahçe Palace. The National Palaces Directorate recently released a report stating that Dolmabahçe runs the risk of collapsing.

Additionally, given that the hotel's height exceeds the limits specified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, it disrupts the historical skyline of İstanbul. The previous debate over İstanbul's skyline centered around the construction of three buildings higher than the nearest historic buildings, Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque and the Hagia Sophia Museum, on the Zeytinburnu coastal road.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched an investigation into the problem last year. Minister Ertuğrul Günay released a clearly written statement in October 2010 to prevent the same thing from happening on the Bosporus, ordering that no buildings higher than Dolmabahçe be built on the strait in order to preserve the skyline.

While no progress could be made in regard to the situation at Sultanahmet, the 14-storey hotel created the same problem on the strait, exceeding Dolmabahçe Palace in height. The hotel's height had to be less than 18 meters, given that it should be shorter than the nearest historic building. However, its height exceeded 24 meters during construction.

The fact that the hotel, built as a result of efforts from the Ministry Industry and Commerce, is higher than the nearest historic building means that it is direct violation of the brief released by another ministry, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.