Call to CHP regarding the mining law

They have tried it exactly 10 times since coming to power. Each time, they were forced to withdraw it either due to rising public outcry or cancellation decisions by the Council of State. Moreover, they were the country's leading party at those times.

Now, they are making an 11th attempt to hand over olive groves, pastures, forests, agricultural lands, and wetlands to a handful of miners. Furthermore, they are no longer the country's leading party this time.

They have brought a new omnibus bill to parliament that would bypass Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes and provide "Super Permits" for mining exploration and operation activities. They pushed it through the commission with fighting and fisticuffs.

Limak and İçtaş, companies that receive the lion's share of all government tenders, operate the Yeniköy, Kemerköy, and Yatağan thermal power plants in Muğla. The coal in the region has run out. Two or three years ago, they invaded the Akbelen Forests and the villagers' olive groves, backed by state power, in violation of the constitution. They massacred the olive groves and the forest. Villagers and mining engineers said, "The coal reserves here were for 30 years. The power plant was built in 1991 and there is no coal left," but they could not make themselves heard. On top of that, they were struck by the gendarmerie's rifle butts. The result: the coal had indeed run out. They couldn't find coal. Now, they are trying to pave the way for plunder again, in violation of the constitution and despite previous case law decisions by the Council of State, for the sake of plundering new olive groves.

Council of State decisions have ruled that there is no public interest in cutting down and relocating olive groves to extract coal; on the contrary, there is a public interest in protecting olive groves. There are already constitutional provisions and laws in place for olive groves. With this omnibus bill, and especially when there is so much public reaction and your political support has ended, why this insistence on plunder and pillage? The reason is clear. So that a handful of politicians, bureaucrats, crony companies, and their foreign partners can plunder the country's natural resources... while also destroying nature...

I wrote about this before because the subject had come up. The olive above the ground is much more valuable than the coal under the ground... One ton of olive oil is 10 thousand dollars. One ton of imported coal is 220 dollars. I think coal prices may have increased a bit. Former Central Bank Governor Durmuş Yılmaz also repeated this on his X account. He says: "Again: 1 ton of coal is $400, the mine's operating life is 40-50 years, maybe 100 years at most. 1 ton of olive oil is $10,000, an olive tree lives for 3000 years. Where is the economy in this? If it is inevitable to cut down olive trees so as not to be left without electricity, then the game is already over. Pull the plug and be done with it."

MINING HAS NO BENEFIT TO TURKEY WHATSOEVER

This law has come to the agenda again with the initiative of Limak and İçtaş. But it will not only apply to energy, coal, and olive groves. It will be valid for all mining activities, especially gold.

I insistently emphasize this: The mining sector is not as important for the Turkish economy as is thought. The share of all mining activities in the national income (2024 GDP) is at the 1 percent level. (It was 1.3 percent in 2023.) Furthermore, this 1 percent has not the slightest contribution to the Turkish economy, the welfare of the Turkish people, or the Republic of Turkey. There is not a single country that has developed and become wealthy by extracting its mines and exporting them as raw materials. If that were the case, the richest countries in the world would be in Africa.

In Turkey, the state royalty for extracted minerals is between 1 percent and 4 percent, depending on the type of mineral. These rates are also mostly halved. It ends up being between 0.5 percent and 2 percent. If we try to calculate the state royalty not based on the extracted mineral, but with all operating costs... I do not have the data for each company one by one. But when I look at the sales profitability of the mining sector in the Istanbul Chamber of Industry's 500 Largest Companies balance sheets, about 95 percent of the profit remains with the company, and 5 percent remains with the state.

Even Trump had proposed a 50-50 profit sharing for Ukraine's mines.

The situation is much worse in gold. They are poisoning the soil, water, agricultural lands, and forest areas with cyanide. They are plundering nature. On paper, the state royalty share in gold mining is 15 percent... The realization is 2 per thousand... For every kilo of gold produced, only 2 grams remain for the state... The source of this data is the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources himself... We understand from the answer given by former Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez to the parliamentary question of CHP Niğde Deputy Ömer Fethi Gürer that the share the state receives is only 2 per thousand... Mining companies extracted 39 thousand kilos of gold and gave the state only 9.5 kilos as a share.

CHP'S RESPONSIBILITY

The CHP is resisting the law in parliament and in the commission. But the government does not care about the opposition. I wrote about this before. It is worth repeating.

What needs to be done, in my opinion, is this: The CHP and other parties in parliament that oppose the plundering of Turkey should read the Roadmap of the Doğru Party. Especially the section on mining... As a future candidate for government, it is important to warn those preparing for plunder and pillage in a deterrent way. In summary, what the Doğru Party proposes regarding mining is this:

"When we come to power, we will cancel all mining exploration and operation licenses. We will hold those who massacre nature, destroy agricultural lands, and the companies involved, as well as everyone from the lowest-level bureaucrat who permits these firms to the responsible politicians, accountable before an independent judiciary. Mining will be under the state's structure, as it was during the Atatürk era, with exploration activities carried out by MTA and operation activities by Etibank. When necessary, cooperation will be made with domestic and foreign private companies for technological support. No mineral will be allowed to be exported as raw material."

Can the CHP, as the leading party in Turkey right now, say this? For example, in the rallies held in every province due to the unjust detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, can it issue a warning with heavy sanctions to the companies engaged in mining plunder and the bureaucrats and politicians who permit them? Then those coming to plunder will think twice. They will calculate that they will not only lose the mining license they hold but will also pay much heavier prices."