The Black Sea under attack (1)

When I left the 35-degree heat of İzmir and landed at Trabzon Airport, I breathed in the familiar scent of the green world where I was born and raised... You immediately realize you have arrived in a different world... The 35-degree temperature suddenly drops to the 20-25 degree range... The sky is covered with white clouds as if it wants to protect you from all evil... And the rain brings peace; it washes a person's soul...  

While thousands of people were losing their lives in Europe due to extreme heat and the south of Turkey was burning under the influence of similar temperatures, I felt as if I were in another world for three days between July 12 and 14... 

A world that does not tire you, that rests you, that lets you breathe, and that connects you to life... But this world, that is, the Black Sea, which is the green face of Turkey, is going through difficult days... 

Turkey's green face, its lush green eye, is under attack... 

The people of Çayeli are on edge regarding the fourth group of gold-silver-copper mines planned to be established on the land of 24 villages in Rize-Çayeli... Or rather, those who see and can perceive the danger they are facing are uneasy, but most of the people of Çayeli are unaware of the issue because a complete blackout is being applied in the region and in Turkey... 

Aslı and Hikmet Eren, a couple who see the danger and strive to warn and awaken their fellow citizens, are fighting tooth and nail to protect the nature of the Black Sea. The "Ants Unite Platform," in which they have the largest share in its formation, is also an important non-governmental organization that gives strength to this struggle... 

(From the Çayeli Panel) 

In this context, I explained the facts as best I could at the panel held in Çayeli on Sunday, July 12... These regional panels and conferences held in every corner of Turkey are also instructive for me... Listening to citizens and villagers one-on-one and being able to understand what they are going through is of great importance for making accurate interpretations... 

Our teacher, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oğuz Kurdoğlu from Karadeniz Technical University, who is on the front lines of the environmental and nature conservation struggle in Artvin, Trabzon, Gümüşhane, and Rize, was also one of the speakers at the panel, but he could not be with us due to a minor health problem he experienced at the last minute. Let us convey our wishes for a "speedy recovery" to him once again from here...

Today, cries are rising from every corner of Turkey, from Çanakkale to Artvin, from Erzincan to Muğla, from Uşak to Rize... Gülferit Güven from the Hacıbekirler village of Çanakkale-Bayramiç, Esra Işık from Muğla-Milas İkizköy, Aslı Kahraman Eren from Çayeli, and Nur Neşe Karahan from Artvin are all saying the same thing: Do not touch my village, my soil, my field, my forest, my pasture...

All of Turkey's mountains, forests, fields, villages, and water resources are being seen as "commodities" and put up for sale... The only obstacle in front of them is the villagers and citizens who are trying to protect their living spaces, fields, water resources, and forests...

The attack on Ordu's legendary Perşembe Plateau has already begun... "Plateau orchids," for which the penalty for picking just one is 245 thousand TL, and "rhododendrons" that grow only in that region are being destroyed under the tracks of bulldozers and excavators... 

The neoliberal policies that started in the 1980s and have been implemented by the AKP for 23 years belittle and shrink agriculture, turn landowners into mine workers; instead of farming on the land, people are directed underground... 

Today, authoritarian populism, extractivism—that is, colonial mining—and neoliberalism policies are being implemented in Turkey.

(From the Çayeli Panel) 

At this point, the Erzincan-İliç Çöpler Gold Mine Disaster that occurred on February 13, 2024, is one of the most striking examples of the colonial mining of savage capitalism... It is one of the most painful examples of what they can do for the sake of profit and rent... They loaded the 264-meter-high heap leach pile they built on the banks of the Euphrates River with cyanide solution far above its capacity with the idea of obtaining a lot of gold in a short time.

In other words, they built a ticking time bomb in an environment where all ministries and relevant state institutions were asleep. And that bomb exploded... 9 workers lost their lives with indescribable pain...

(From the Çayeli Panel)

Prioritizing prosperity and economic growth above all else is the fundamental difference of neoliberalism. That is why they started to implement necropolitics (abandoning to death)... It does not matter where people live, where they move, or where they stay. What matters are the exploitative policies and decisions.

The real issue is the mentality that sees the poisoning of nature and ecocide as legitimate under the name of development... The mentality that considers gold and rare earth elements as "wealth" while disregarding water, soil, and human health must change...

(To be continued tomorrow) 

İbrahim Gündüz