ANKARA, Turkey, May 27 (UPI) -- The Turkish President's newly-built, $615 million, 1,150-room palace was declared illegally constructed by the country's highest administrative court.
The "White Palace," into which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved in 2014, was built on protected land, the environmentally protected nature preserve known as the Ataturk Forest Farm. An exception to a law, removing the land's protections and allowing the palace to be built, was overturned by the Ankara Fifth Administrative Court Tuesday. That made construction of the elaborate palace illegal, the country's Chamber of Architects, which joined the suit, said.