After Hatay became a metropolitan city in 2014, Büyükdere District, which remained within the borders of Arsuz district, was almost forgotten as a different district from the surrounding neighborhoods and continued to remain a district of Iskenderun. Uncertainty has been going on for 10 years in the neighborhood, which resembles the Tinne village in the movie “Ay Lava Yu”.
Hatay, the economic and agricultural center of the Mediterranean, became a metropolitan city with the law published in 2014. In Hatay, one of the growing cities of Turkey with its rapidly increasing population, the map was redrawn and the villages became neighborhoods. Büyükdere District was almost forgotten in the city where great changes took place with the regulations. Büyükdere District, which is within the borders of Arsuz district and the surrounding neighborhoods are connected to Arsuz, still continues to be a district of İskenderun.
Büyükdere Neighborhood, which causes confusion when looking at the map, is 15 kilometers away from İskenderun district and 30 kilometers away from Arsuz district. The Büyükdere Neighborhood, which was thought to be ignored when the map was drawn like in the movie “Ay Lav Yu”, has almost become prosperous in terms of receiving services with the March 31 Local Elections and the citizens living in the neighborhood expressed their gratitude to İskenderun Mayor Mehmet Dönmez forgot to forget them.
Statements from Neighborhood Headman Necati Batman
Necati Batman, the headman of Büyükdere Neighborhood, expressed the problems experienced with Hatay becoming a metropolitan municipality as follows: “We do not know the content of the incident very well, but when Hatay became a metropolitan municipality, since ours was a village station, it turned into a neighborhood after a while and we thought it was forgotten. We are a neighborhood within the borders of Arsuz district and affiliated with İskenderun district. We thought we were forgotten until the March 31, 2024 elections, but after İskenderun Mayor Mehmet Dönmez won the March 31, 2024 elections, we realized that we were not forgotten.”
Stating that the surrounding neighborhoods are connected to Arsuz, headman Batman said, “Let’s put it this way, Arsuz is one kilometer to our right, Arsuz is one kilometer to our left, Arsuz is 500 meters behind us, we are a neighborhood of Iskenderun “, 12 kilometers away from the center of Iskenderun. Next to us is a 12 kilometer corridor of Arsuz.” “Our left is a 30-kilometer corridor, completely connected to Arsuz. Let me tell you, we are actually a paradise. Yes, we can actually call it the forgotten village or Tinne,” he said.
