boundaries are determined “by application of a base map 
with a scale of 1/25 000” are incorrect from a technical 
point of view. The marking of forest boundaries on a map 
of 1/25 000 scale is contrary to the cadastral technical 
standards. Such practices are not in agreement either with 
the technical standards stipulated in “Regulation 
Concerning the Production of Large-scale Maps, 
dated 30 January 1988”, taken as basis in ownership 
cadastral works. Similarly, the evaluations such as “in 
the event of a doubt regarding the prior qualification 
of an immovable in forestry disputes, the aerial 
photographs of that region should be used, and aerial 
photographs should be considered among 
indispensable evidences in forestry cases.” are also 
wrong from a technical point of view. In fact , it would 
be better to adopt the term *orthophoto map of 1/5 
000 scale" instead of the term of aerial photograph, 
and the term “standard topographic map of 1/5 000 
scale with cadastral overlay" instead of the term of 
base map. 
The use of inadequate surveying techniques and 
documents in forestry demarcation activities prevents the 
registration of forests into the land registry with 
information so obtained. Such information and 
documents insufficient for registration into land registry 
create important problems. 
The forestry remarcation works carried out by forestry 
cadastral committees but could not be registered into the 
land registry should be provided with an opportunity for 
implementation. With the amendment make in the 
Forestry Law No.6831 by Law No.4999 dated 05 
November 2003, if any “technical errors” such as errors 
of area due to reasons other than changes in qualification 
and ownership, and arising from  staking out, 
measurement, plotting and computations, are observed in 
areas whose forestry "limitation" or “cadastre” has been 
completed and become final by announcement, such 
errors are allowed to be corrected by the forestry 
cadastral committees, under the knowledge and 
supervision of General Directorate of Forestry This 
change realized in the Forestry Law after 66 years offers 
an important opportunity with regard to imparting 
registration capability to those remarcation documents 
which could not be registered into the land registry until 
now. 
4. ASAMPLE AREA: BEYKOZ (ISTANBUL) 
With regard to preservation and ensuring the security of 
forests and other vegetative cover in our country, the 
province of Istanbul is considered as the first area 
requiring the taking of necessary measurements in this 
respect. There are many reasons for this. The rapid 
population increase and unhealthy urbanization are the 
most important ones of these reasons. Istanbul is 
Turkey's most populated province. 
About 38% (2,164 km?) of Istanbul's total area is covered 
with forests. The 46% (1,004 km?) of forest areas is 
located on the Anatolian side while 54% (1,160 km?) on 
the European side. The forest areas in both sides are most 
dense in the north of the city. The population of Istanbul 
has experienced a big increase after 1950s , and 
accompanied with internal migration, it has been 
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B3. Istanbul 2004 
threatening the forests. While this pressure on forests has 
been continuing, the problems of housing and settlement 
arising parallel with this development have remained 
largely unsolved. As a result, some 896 (183,3 km?) of 
Ístanbul's forests have been occupied by squatter houses 
and unauthorized buildings, and forced to be excluded 
from the forest area. The failure in efforts to stop this 
undesirable process has caused the forests, natural 
vegetable cover and natural environment to be faced with 
the risk of extinction. As a result of failure in remarcation 
of Istanbul’s forests and their registration into the land 
registry has further aggravated the existing problems. 
About 1/5 (36 km?) of areas excluded from forest area in 
Istanbul is located in Beykoz township, known as one of 
the lungs of the city. The destruction of forests in Istanbul 
is concentrated in the northern part where the township of 
Beykoz is also located. The building of second 
Bosphorus Bridge (Fatih Sultan Bridge), and also the 
announcement of Beykoz as a safe area with regard to 
soil structure after the occurrence of Marmara Earthquake 
have acted as accelerating factors on this process. 
The failures experienced in forestry remarcation works in 
Turkey is observed to have adverse effects on Istanbul, 
too. As reported by Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (iTO 
2001), there are about a total of 1 million buildings in 
Istanbul. Only about 7% of these buildings were 
constructed by obtaining a construction permit, and 
according to the building projects approved by relevant 
local authorities. It follows that 93% of buildings in 
istanbul are illegal. Special legal regulations have been 
introduced on both sides of istanbul Strait with regard to 
development and planning. Despite the special provisions 
of Bosphorus Law No. 2960 dated 1983, the construction 
of squatter houses and illegal buildings could not be 
prevented. Due to the failure experienced in urban 
planning, rapid population increase and failure in solving 
housing problems have caused the urbanization to get out 
of control. On account of rapid population increase 
experienced in Istanbul and migration from urban areas to 
the city, the forests and agricultural production areas have 
been under a heavy pressure. 
Therefore, both the development and implementation of 
urbanization plans in Istanbul have failed. Legal, 
technical and administrative measures need to be taken in 
order to stop the process leading to the destruction of 
forests, natural vegetative cover and green field. 
The foremost technical measure required to be taken is to 
ensure the completion of Istanbul’s ownership and foresy, 
cadastral works with no loss of time, and to determine the 
land use boundaries. To achieve this, the GPS, 
photogrammetry and remote sensing technologies must 
be put into service. When said technologies not taken 
advantage of until now are put into service, the ensuring 
of control in management of land would be highly 
facilitated. It would be possible to detect and monitor the 
squatter houses and illegal buildings by making 
periodical observations. When the photogrammetric and 
remote sensing data are employed as a base in the stages 
of analysis of development and planning, it will be 
possible to solve the existing problems within relatively 
short time.