Bazgiret Waterfall, Nevzat Özer, and Turkey under attack

Serhan Asker's latest program showcased Artvin's hidden natural treasure, Bazgiret Waterfall, to all of Turkey... There are such hidden natural treasures in every corner, every region of Turkey... Today, these natural treasures in Çanakkale, Muğla, Artvin, Balıkesir, Kastamonu, Eskişehir, and every corner of Turkey are facing the danger of extinction, destruction, and being torn apart under the guise of mining... The mining plunder has restarted on the Ordu Perşembe Plateau. Work has resumed on a gold mine project that had previously been halted by a court order. Citizens who want to protect their plateaus and living spaces are being pitted against the gendarmerie.

Meanwhile, an unbelievable incident occurred last week... TEMA Ankara Provincial President Nevzat Özer and the TEMA volunteers accompanying him were arrested on charges of membership in a terrorist organization!

On June 3, 2026, 42 TEMA volunteers participating in a trip to the Ankara-Nallıhan Bird Paradise encountered Doruk mine workers marching toward Ankara on their way back. Afterward, they were subjected to identity checks by the gendarmerie three times on the road to Ankara. Twenty days passed, and security (!) operations were launched in Ankara for the NATO Summit. During the operations, TEMA volunteers who participated in the Nallıhan trip, primarily TEMA Ankara Provincial President Nevzat Özer, were detained one by one from their homes in dawn raids. Despite explaining who they were and what they were doing during their initial interrogations, they were arrested by a judge's decision! And they were accused of being members of an illegal organization!

Accusing Nevzat Özer, who served his country for many years as an agricultural engineer and has been serving his homeland as a TEMA volunteer during his retirement, of membership in a terrorist organization is a major contradiction that is impossible to explain... The same can be said for the other arrested TEMA volunteers. Some are retired teachers, others are engineers who have served their state for many years, etc. If these arrests are not a setup aimed at intimidating TEMA, they are another striking example of the mental lapses occurring in the country...

TEMA, the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats, has been fighting tooth and nail for years to protect this country's natural environment, living spaces, and forests. TEMA, led by President Deniz Ataç, has recently come to the forefront in the fight against ecocide, which has intensified under the name of mining. With the statements it makes, the reports it prepares, and the visuals it shares, TEMA draws public attention to the nature massacres taking place. Naturally, it also draws the ire of looting and plundering companies...

On Sunday, June 28, 2026, Serhan Asker once again brought Turkey's hidden natural paradises to the screen with his program "Görkemli Hatıralar" (Magnificent Memories) on Halktv. This time, his stop was the villages and plateaus of Artvin's Şavşat district. As is the case with all natural areas in Turkey, all of paradise Artvin's mountains, forests, and villages are under threat. Every corner of Artvin has been tendered to domestic and foreign companies. According to the map revealed by TEMA, 71 percent of Artvin is licensed for mining. It is a geography that adds life to life, gives soul to the soul... It is a geography that is one of the country's lifeblood with its oxygen, water, honey, and thousands of varieties of agricultural products.

Every week, Serhan Asker brings Turkey's hidden, forgotten, or forced-to-be-forgotten regions to the attention of millions in this way... He is practically saying, "Know the lands you step on." He is saying, "Get to know them so you don't allow this country to be looted by some cannibals."

Nevzat Özer and the TEMA volunteers are also patriots who are fighting this struggle and making efforts to protect Turkey's nature and living spaces...

Turkey is under an unprecedented attack. International cartels and their local collaborators have launched an attack on every village and every region under the name of "mining." They are holding tender after tender.

This country's mountains, forests, plateaus-pastures, villages, and water resources are being ruthlessly and lawlessly looted to meet the raw material needs of global capital centers and their local partners. Turkey, caught in the grip of colonial mining, is being turned into a excavation site and waste dump for global capital.

With fairy tales of "development and investment," they want to destroy the villages, vineyards, and gardens that are this nation's last bastions to hold onto. They want to tear apart its plateaus, pastures, forests, and mountains.

What is being destroyed is not just forests, mountains, plateaus, and villages. What is being destroyed is a culture, the villages that are centers of production. What is being destroyed is life itself.

It is Turkey that they want. Occupation and exploitation are being imposed today through international cartels under the guise of "mining." Governments that do not speak out against this imposition and that pave the way for it are the administrations that imperial capitalists always support and "legitimize." They ignore the clear constitutional violations and the autocratic atmosphere of oppression in the country. As long as it suits their interests, as long as they get what they want, it does not matter who is in power. Turkey is being pushed into a more dangerous process than ever before. Citizens have no choice left but to defend their villages, vineyards, gardens, forests, plateaus, and pastures...