Cemil Tugay's take on the Gulf of İzmir: 'The Action Plan is not enough'

Expressing his reservations regarding the 15-point plan prepared by the Scientific Committee established by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change for the cleaning of the Gulf of İzmir, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay said, "I do not believe that the Gulf will be cleaned as much as we want when the 15-point plan they want us to sign is put into practice."

'I EXPECT CLARITY'

Tugay stated, "The İzmir Metropolitan Municipality is, of course, the strongest institution in İzmir in the public sense. Therefore, we will take ownership of the problem here with the strongest will and do what is required of us. But there are some supports and approvals we expect from our government. There are still uncertainties regarding these. It was said verbally that we will do this and that, but there are many issues that are not included in that text in writing. These need to be clarified. At the very least, I expect clarity regarding the loans to be given to us through the World Bank and İller Bank," he said.

'I WILL SIGN IT BY SHARING MY RESERVATIONS'

Reminding that there is a circulation and navigation channel project that was also accepted by the ministry in 2017, Tugay continued as follows:

"The ministry has accepted that this needs to be done for the cleaning of the Gulf. But today, these are not mentioned in this plan, and it is said that research will be done on these and they will be done if deemed necessary. But what we cannot understand is why this project, which already received the ministry's approval in 2017, is not considered appropriate now, and if it is not considered appropriate, what will be done instead must also be stated. We are describing what needs to be done so that the Gulf does not become polluted from now on; we are all aware of this. However, the studies regarding the cleaning of existing pollution, such as dredging and channel creation, have not been determined. The gaps here created a hesitation in me, so I told our friends to work on them. After that, I will sign it by writing my thoughts on some issues there, opening a parenthesis and sharing my reservations."

"IT CANNOT BE DONE BY SAYING 'LET THE MUNICIPALITY DO IT, WE WILL INSPECT'"

Tugay said, "In the process I have been following from the beginning, there is always an approach like 'let the municipality do everything and we will control the municipality.' In other words, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization is also İzmir's ministry, and the Ministry of Transport is also İzmir's ministry. So our ministries need to take ownership of these issues. This is not just pollution, pollution caused by treatment. This is pollution that comes from streams, from industrial facilities, for many years, if you remember, from the time of the tanneries in Yeşildere. It is a situation formed by their accumulation, that mud and sediment at the bottom. So, an approach that this pollution occurred as a result of the negligence of CHP municipalities and therefore they are solely responsible is a very unfair approach. One needs to be aware of this first. On the other hand, there is a serious problem in front of us today. This is not just the municipality's problem, it is not just İzmir's problem. In other words, İzmir is a city of the Republic of Turkey, so the ministries have to take full ownership of such a big problem in İzmir. This cannot be done with the approach of 'let the municipalities do it, and we will inspect the municipalities'," he said.

"MANY ISSUES ARE UNDER THE AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MINISTRY"

Stating that the problem is a heavy one and requires long-term, intensive work, Tugay said, "There is also a need for serious financial resources. Therefore, they cannot say 'let's do it immediately', I understand this. But whatever the cost, we need to take ownership and we need to solve this problem. Moreover, the authority for many issues is already with the ministry. In other words, cleaning work at the bottom of the Gulf is under the authority of the ministry. The work to create those channels there is under the authority of the ministry. The authority to control industrial facilities is entirely under the authority of the ministry. The authority for inspections regarding the cleaning of the streams flowing into the Gulf, including the Gediz River, is in the hands of the ministry. Inspections to be carried out regarding ships and the port are entirely under the authority of the ministries. The situation regarding the shipyard is completely outside our authority. Are we not going to talk about these at all? Are we not going to bring these to the agenda? We cannot clean the Gulf while these continue. So they need to understand this. Therefore, in a situation where authority and responsibility are largely with the ministries, this business cannot be done by saying 'let the municipality handle the treatment and the rest will be handled'. It's not that simple. The ministries have to actively do that cleaning, we will help. I am saying that, we will definitely be involved in this work as much as our power allows. In fact, I said it before, even if no one does anything, we will do it. But this 15-point action plan is not enough to clean the Gulf right now. We are talking about these now because we have reservations about this," he said.