They've riddled it with holes! 'Ecological destruction' in Malatya's Pütürge district

Malatya's Pütürge district has been riddled with holes due to phyllite, which is also a raw material for white cement. 

According to a report by Sibel Bahçetepe from BirGün; Pütürge Environment Platform Spokesperson Ramazan Derin, who drew attention to the damages caused by the phyllite mining crushing, screening, and washing facility planned for the district's Taşmış neighborhood—where active work is being carried out in 33 mining sites—said that they are conducting an ecological struggle against mining companies plundering the district. Emphasizing that they have so far had two EIA applications and two mining licenses cancelled, and obtained stay-of-execution decisions for three mines, yet mining companies continue their operations, Derin said, "We cannot find an authority to implement these decisions. There is serious ecological destruction occurring in Pütürge."

"HIGH RISK"

In his statement to BirGün, Derin said that the intense environmental pollution caused by the extraction and transportation of minerals has reached an unbearable level for both human and wildlife. Reminding that there are 33 active mining sites in the 37-square-kilometer Taşmış neighborhood, Derin said, "There has been mining activity in Pütürge for 30 years. However, activities have increased since 2018. Currently, we have 33 mining sites in our Taşmış village. The activity of the mining sites has reached a terrifying level." Reminding that there is intense environmental and noise pollution, Derin assessed, "This also affects livestock farming. Wildlife is completely finished. The fact that rehabilitation has not been carried out in the mines that were opened in the Taşmış, Gündüz, Belen, and Örnek neighborhoods and are not idle poses a high risk for humans, domestic animals, and wildlife."

GREAT DAMAGE TO ECOLOGY

Stating that the mining deposit areas belong to Çimsa, owned by Sabancı Holding, but are operated by a company called Altuntaş Mining, Derin continued as follows:

"The regulation on opening mines is not being followed when opening mining sites. The cheapest and most primitive methods are being applied. Again, the provisions in both the Mining Law and the Environmental Law are ignored in the extraction and transportation of minerals. Despite many violations, the necessary penal sanctions are not applied. It should be mandatory for mineral processing and separation facilities to be at a certain distance from residential, agricultural, livestock, beekeeping, stream, and spring water areas. However, this is not being complied with. The recently built phyllite mining crushing, screening, and washing facility being 100 meters from the Taşmış neighborhood Çermik residential area, 10 meters from the Şiro Creek, 5 meters from the Pütürge-Malatya highway, and 400 meters from the Pazarcık neighborhood Nefsi Pazarcık settlement, while being right in the middle of thousands of decares of irrigated agricultural land and tens of thousands of apricot and other fruit trees, means a huge risk for all kinds of life. As a result of dust pollution in particular, as well as noise and waste from washing mixing into the Şiro Creek, the danger of the extinction of living things in the Karakaya dam lake, especially in the Şiro Creek, is inevitable."

THE PROJECT MUST BE STOPPED

Noting that the project must be stopped, Derin continued his words as follows:

"We do not accept that the mining activities carried out are left to the discretion of mining companies, considering public health and the sustainability of other natural life. We call on all relevant and authorized institutions to take urgent action to stop the project in question for the sake of public interest and to strictly and fairly inspect the mining carried out with primitive and savage methods to either stop it or ensure it is done according to international standards. We also want the mines that are currently not active but not idle in the Belen, Gündüz, and Örnek neighborhoods to be closed and rehabilitated."

News Source: 12punto