The nation's last fortress

Look, my dear brother, take a good look at this map where more than 85 million people and trillions of living creatures reside... The map you see is 1/22nd of the country called the Russian Federation, 1/13th of the country called Canada, 1/12th of the USA, 1/12th of China, and 1/10th of Australia...                         

And it is 1/39th of the continent called Africa...

You say, "It is also done in Canada, the USA, Russia, and Australia..." I don't really know in detail what is done in these countries or how it is done... And I am not saying it is correct... Furthermore, while environmental advocates in those countries are certainly fighting against the wrongs in their own lands, you cannot compare the geography of Turkey with Canada, the USA, Russia, and Australia... 

The world is not experiencing a global climate crisis, but a global climate catastrophe... Meaning water resources are drying up... Forests are disappearing... Our geography is being scorched by endless fires... Sudden and violent rains are striking like a sledgehammer... Agricultural lands are becoming unusable... The human species is multiplying rapidly... In short, living spaces in the world are shrinking... Today, humanity is in a greater struggle than ever before to hold on to the world... 

You don't need to go very far; just go out into the street in any of our major cities and look around, and you will encounter thousands of foreign faces. I am not talking about tourists; I am talking about people who have come to Turkey to hold on to life and to survive. I am neither blaming nor belittling them. Of course, the wars and conflicts in their own countries play a major role in their arrival, but some of these people are flocking to Turkey because their own countries have become unlivable and they want to achieve better living conditions. In other words, climate refugees will increase even more in the coming years. You might see this as a source of income, but countries are determining strategies accordingly and trying to take precautions.

GET THIS INTO YOUR HEAD

Turkey is not a water-rich country... Please get this into your head... For example, the Sakarya River and the Porsuk Stream are important rivers for Eskişehir, Bilecik, Ankara, Sakarya, and Bolu. We need to protect them like the apple of our eye. The Palu Plain and the Sakarya Valley are Turkey's production bases... If you destroy the Porsuk Stream or poison the Sakarya River, there is no other Porsuk or Sakarya... Therefore, you destroy the Palu Plain and the Sakarya Valley... In other words, you jeopardize the food security of Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa, and Eskişehir... So, I suggest you think about this before handing over Eskişehir to your American, European, or local imperial friends... 

"Faruk Çelik, who is an AKP Artvin Deputy and also served as a Bursa Deputy for a term, is planning to transport water from Artvin to Bursa via pipelines... From the easternmost tip of Turkey to almost the westernmost... A mentality that plans to bring water to Bursa from Artvin instead of thinking about how to protect Bursa's own water resources! The same mentality is also giving approval after approval to mining projects that destroy and poison the water resources in Artvin, the very water it intends to transport to Bursa...

THEY SHIFTED GEARS

My dear brother, please come to your senses. You may see mining as an exit strategy for the salvation of a country you have driven to bankruptcy, or someone may have convinced you in this direction... Or you may have declared the entirety of Turkey a mining zone with the intention of supporting your defense industry or providing raw materials for the machines of imperialists (while, of course, taking your cut)... But stop telling lies while looking the nation in the eye... 

We can see that you have shifted gears in recent months... You now appear to have launched a new offensive in areas that the citizens of this country do not want and have been fighting against for a long time. We are aware of this... Neither the "Çöpler Disaster" nor the nation's "Kazdağları Struggle" seems to have stopped you. The citizens of this country showed determined resistance for months against a Canadian company named Alamos Gold so that cyanide gold mining would not be carried out in the Kazdağları ecosystem. And as a result, Alamos Gold packed up and left Turkey. While everyone was waiting for the destruction caused by Alamos Gold to be repaired and for the Kirazlı-Balaban region to be brought back to life, Nurol Holding suddenly appeared. We looked and saw that Nurol Holding had purchased the Kirazlı-Balaban region, for which the public had fought and resisted for months! 

For 1 billion dollars...                   

So, Nurol will carry out the Kirazlı, Ağı Dağı, and Çamyurt projects... In other words, Nurol, which devastated Lapseki in Çanakkale, and Nurol, which tore apart the Madra mountains with the İvrindi Gold Mine, will now do the same mining in Kazdağları... 

GOLD HOLDINGS

It didn't take long, and news came from Erzincan as well... This time, Cengiz Holding appeared... Another Canada-US cartel, SSR Mining, which caused the February 13, 2024, Çöpler Gold Mine disaster in this country, sold all of its shares to Cengiz Holding. In other words, Cengiz became the owner of 80 percent of the shares of the Çöpler Gold Mine by paying 1.5 billion dollars. 20 percent belongs to Çalık Holding...

We explained this in our previous article. The shares of the Hod Gold Mine in Artvin also ended up in the hands of Çalık Holding. The Canada-US SSR Mining transferred its shares there (80 percent) to Çalık Holding as well... 

Holdings and companies close to the government are taking control of gold mines in Turkey. As for Koza's gold mines, they are already in the hands of the government... After the FETÖ coup attempt, after companies affiliated with FETÖ were seized, KOZA was first transferred to the TMSF (Savings Deposit Insurance Fund) and then to the Turkey Wealth Fund, chaired by President Erdoğan... So, it appears the government has seized the gold business through Koza and holdings close to it, and not just in a small way...

NO RISK LEFT!

Now they are trying to reopen the Çöpler Gold Mine, where the disaster of February 13, 2024, occurred and which became a grave for 9 of our people. A commission formed by the Erzincan Governorship has found that the mining site does not pose a risk in terms of human and environmental health! A heap leach pile half-collapsed, a toxic waste dam full to the brim, a mine built on an earthquake fault line, and there is no risk!!! The General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs (MAPEG) also stated that the collapsed material is being evaluated as ore, and the Temporary Operation Certificate has been approved... The relevant ministries will continue to monitor and inspect! 

How relieved we feel, right... 

They say everyone, including deputies and mayors, wants the mine to be opened... That's what they say... Because it is very important for the regional economy...

Today, the Çöpler Gold Mine, which is an ecocide center where the disaster occurred, is very important for the regional economy; tomorrow, the HOD Gold Mine will be very important for Artvin's regional economy; tomorrow, the Madra Gold Mine, the İvrindi Gold Mine, and the Uşak Gold Mine will be very important for the regional economy... Tomorrow, the Eskişehir-Alpagat-Atalan Gold Mine and the Kaymaz Gold Mine will be very important for the regional economy...

Well, what will not be important... Olives, hazelnuts, tea, water, forests, apples, grapes, and wheat will no longer have any importance... Animal husbandry, agriculture, and tourism will no longer have any importance... 

Those who say today, "There is nothing else to do in İliç, the citizens make their living from the mine," will start saying the same thing tomorrow for Aybastı, for Araklı, for Lapseki, for Uşak... Those who say İliç today will start saying tomorrow, "Erzincan has no other industry besides mining." Those who say İliç today will start saying Kastamonu, Eskişehir, Ordu, Zonguldak, and Bolu tomorrow...  

THE DANGER OF HUNGER

However, the issue is not just gold... It could be copper, or chrome... It could be marble, or boron... It could be aluminum, or iron... They are ready to strike a pickaxe everywhere for the sake of mining. But they are forgetting one thing. There is a population approaching 90 million living in this country, and the problem of feeding this population. In other words, the water and nutritional needs of 90 million people will be provided through Anatolian lands. Or at least, that is how it has been provided until now. 

Look, my dear brother, nobody is buying the nonsense of "We have money, we will import" anymore. It is not convincing anyway... Because you don't have money, and since you have turned the money you do have into nothing, you cannot feed this nation by importing from abroad. The 90 million people living in this country need water and food. So, what I am saying is, please think about these things while you are serving up the fertile agricultural plains of Thrace, Diyarbakır, and Eskişehir to your American friends. Do not be so blinded. Yes, you are giving them whatever they want in exchange for "legitimacy," and with that "legitimacy" you have received, you are at war with your people and democracy, but the millions you leave hungry may become a plague upon you.

Today, you may occupy the country's agenda with municipalities you have seized with gendarmerie and police force, with mayors you have thrown into prison, with the main opposition party you are trying to tear apart, and with drug operations against celebrities and crony relationships. But believe me, no matter what you do, you cannot occupy the minds of millions who are left thirsty and hungry.

For years, we have been trying to explain as best we can through books, articles, panels, and various programs. This country is as much yours as it is mine... My children live in this country, and so do yours... Hunger, thirst, and poisoning are problems we will all experience together... Therefore, before you make the country unlivable, stop these wrong policies of yours and stop handing over every inch of the country to someone through mining tenders.

Leave the hazelnut orchards of Fatsa, the tea gardens of Çayeli, the legendary forests of Artvin, the olive groves of the Aegean, and the vineyards alone. Do not try to destroy the last fortress the nation has taken refuge in, their villages. Villages are the last fortress of this poor nation... They are the last home that this poor nation, which has been devastated by the incompetent policies of inadequate and ambitious politicians who have been clinging to the back of this country like a tick for years, has taken refuge in...

WAR DECLARED ON THE NATION

Despite all the wrongs, robberies, jackal-like behavior, and profiteering, villages are the centers of life that keep this noble nation standing, feeding and supporting it. The attack you have launched on the villages is, in fact, a war declared on the nation. You cannot hide the robbery and profiteering you are trying to carry out with fancy words and grandiloquent sentences from the nation.

You have now set your sights on the most sacred things of this nation: its property, its land, its village, its grave, its past, and its history. Either you are not aware of this, or you are so blinded that you cannot see anything. Even people called "representatives of the nation" can come out and make statements like "you've done a fine job" against citizens trying to stop destruction projects. 

You have the best brains in the world, but you are not aware of it... Young and productive... Creative... Protect those brains, which are the most valuable thing in the world today... Feed them, ensure they live in a healthy environment... Offer the world's most beautiful mountains, forests, and living spaces to their service so that those brains can produce... Look, my dear brother, when you look at Gümüşhane or Artvin, don't think about tearing those mountains apart... Think about the wealth those mountains, valleys, and forests add to you... If you spent a week in the Hatila Valley, you would add a life to your life... Create world-class living spaces on the Perşembe Plateau...

Industrialists and producers are experiencing major problems... Uncertainties and abnormal increases in input prices have made industrial production and even agricultural production impossible... Due to natural gas, electricity, and fuel prices, and even water costs, industrialists and producers have become unable to work... Forests, mountains, pastures, plateaus, and the nation's villages are being shown as the way out... Turkey is seen as the raw material depot of Europe and the world...

YOU ARE NOT THE OWNER

You cannot treat places entrusted to the honor and protection of the state as your own property and hand them over to crony contractors or crony party members... The state has a seriousness, a weight, rules, and a Constitution. Just because you are governing the state today does not mean you are the owner of this state. You are a politician who performs a public duty within the framework of the Constitution and laws and who governs the state for a while with the authority you received from the nation. This state and its citizens under the constitutional protection of this state are not your slaves... You cannot seize the nation's property with the decrees you issue...

On one hand, they see the country as a garbage dump and fill it with Europe's trash... On the other hand, they try to plunder the nation's villages as a raw material depot. While Antalya is preparing for the UN COP31 with the theme of "Zero Waste," the coasts of Adana, Mersin, and Antalya seem to have turned into a microplastic depot... According to the official figures announced, you fill the country with more than 500 thousand tons of waste per year and then tell the nation fairy tales about "zero waste"... The administrators of a state that has not even been able to establish a recycling system in the capital Ankara are giving us "zero waste" eulogies... Some people attend panels and conferences and give "zero waste" lectures... We are living through a period at the peak of shamelessness, hypocrisy, and fraud...

İbrahim Gündüz