The resisting mayor of Bergama: 'Gold mines using cyanide must be closed immediately!'

Ezgi Sivritepe-12punto.com.tr

A landslide occurred at the site of the Çöpler Gold Mine, owned by the Anagold company, in the İliç district of Erzincan. Statements have been made indicating that the soil pile consisted of materials washed with cyanide and sulfuric acid. Efforts are ongoing regarding the incident, where workers have been trapped under the debris for days.

Sefa Taşkın, the former Mayor of Bergama and a 12punto.com.tr columnist, who was one of the pioneers of the struggle against cyanide gold mining in Bergama in the past and even wrote books on the subject, issued important warnings.

THE FIRST STRUGGLE IN BERGAMA IN 1989

Turkey is no stranger to gold mining with cyanide and the environmental struggle against it. The first struggle began in Bergama in 1989. Sefa Taşkın, one of the pioneers of the Bergama struggle, which even made it onto the world agenda, recalled that process and explained the dangers of cyanide to 12punto. Emphasizing that cyanide is the most dangerous poison in the world, Taşkın said:

“They used to say 5 percent, now they count it as a mine even if there is 2 percent gold dust in the soil. Examinations show that when you treat rock and soil containing gold with cyanide and water, the cyanide extracts and takes the gold in the soil. They collect the remaining waste in one place. The problem here is that cyanide is the most dangerous poison in the world.”

COUNCIL OF STATE: HARMFUL TO BOTH HUMANS AND NATURE

Taşkın shared his experiences regarding the struggle they launched against cyanide gold mining during his tenure as mayor of Bergama and described the companies that came to mine as follows:

“We held marches and demonstrations with the people of Bergama. They didn't listen to us in those demonstrations either. Following these warnings, we applied to the judiciary. The court made various decisions; the mine opened and then closed. We applied to the Council of State. The 6th Chamber of the Council of State made a tremendous decision in 1989-1996. It ruled, 'This mine can harm both humans and nature; secondly, there is no public benefit to operating this mine.' Since it made such a decision, shouldn't this mine not be operated? It was a long process, and they finished the mine, and the mine started working. We went to the European Court of Human Rights and applied to the courts in Turkey because court decisions were not being implemented. Because the court decision was not implemented, I received 5 thousand TL in compensation from the Prime Minister of that period, Mesut Yılmaz, along with my friends. About a hundred of us applied to the European Court of Human Rights. It found us right again, and the state paid us compensation. This means that the fact that the cyanide gold mine in Bergama harms the environment and people was diagnosed by the scientific community as well as local and national courts. Despite being heavily debated in Turkey, they continued to operate the mine. At that time, the law enforcement of the İzmir municipality was coming to the mine to support it, even though the mine was closed.”

THE COMPANY COULD NOT COPE AND SOLD IT TO FETÖ MEMBERS

Taşkın also revealed that the private company could not break their resistance during the Bergama struggle process and later sold the mine to FETÖ members. Taşkın described those days as follows:

“The name of the company that came to Bergama was Eurogold; it had three partners. One was an Australian company, but behind it was the American Rothschild company. The second appeared to be Canadian, but behind it was one of Germany's largest companies. The third was a French company; this company was one of the companies like MTA that owned France's nuclear power plant. These are multinational companies; they form various partnerships all over the world and operate these mines. I call them the cyanide octopus. They have arms everywhere. The company providing the finance was a German company. We held demonstrations so they wouldn't finance it. The second financier bank was the British bank The Royal Bank Of Scotland. Now, the one selling the cyanide is the semi-German Degussa company. These are literally a network. As a result of the Bergama struggle, first the Germans and then the French withdrew. The Americans were the last ones left, and they couldn't cope with us and sold the mine to the Koza Company. The Koza company was Akın İpek's holding. Akın İpek was also a FETÖ member. The current government was after him, but Akın İpek had fled to London. The state had searched for gold in the garden of İpek's house, wondering where he hid the gold. That's the kind of disgrace it is.

They accused us in different ways at that time, they tried to intimidate us. They said nonsense things like the Germans didn't want to operate a gold mine in Turkey, even though the company that came was a German company.”

“ONLY ONE IN A THOUSAND”

When we asked Taşkın about the interest of multinational companies in gold mines in Turkey and the criticisms directed at those who oppose the mines, he stated that the public is against gold mining with cyanide and that companies are working to minimize this situation.

Taşkın said, “The amount of gold in Turkey is one-thousandth of the world's. They were telling us, 'Are we going to be the poor guards of our underground wealth?' This is nothing but sophistry. These are just the clamors of multinational companies and their collaborators who are eager to take our gold. If you want to develop, give more money to your farmer and let them work harder, or make other investments. How many people's deaths have been caused; these are very dangerous things.”

“A FABRICATED EIA REPORT WAS PREPARED”

Stating that it should be examined whether the place where the investment will be made is compatible with the environment, Taşkın used the following words regarding the incident in Erzincan:

“Tons of cyanide are used. In Erzincan, they use not only cyanide but also sulfuric acid. If you put your finger in this acid, it will melt it. Now you are using tons of such a thing in Erzincan and you are going to mix it with the soil and take the gold. This facility is 300-400 meters away from the Euphrates River. At the very beginning, it should have been considered what the risk of this was. It is understood that a fabricated EIA report was prepared while this mine was being built.”

“THIS WAS AN EXPECTED DISASTER”

Criticizing the place where the Çöpler Gold Mine stores its waste, Taşkın said, “It was a landslide, a soil slip, that's a lie. You stand on a 45-degree slope, you fall down. This was an expected disaster. Before this, the pipes had already burst and the cyanide had leaked and flowed away. The state fined them, where is the district governor, the governor? It closed for six or seven months and then opened. It throws cyanide on the soil and those wastes are stored on the mountain. The soil slipped and came onto those wastes, onto the cyanide. The person who prepared the EIA report, the one who operates the mine, the district governor there, the environment and urbanization directorate, the administrators, and the person who was the minister at that time and is trying to become the mayor of Istanbul should be held accountable for those nine lives. This is the first, but more will follow. Because they think of nothing but making money. Cyanide gold mines in Turkey must be closed immediately; no permits should be granted.”

“IF IT MIXES WITH THE EUPHRATES, IT WILL ADVANCE TO BASRA”

Taşkın stated that if cyanide mixes with the Euphrates River, it will advance to the Persian Gulf; people could get cancer and animals could die.

Stating that gold mining with cyanide is banned in Europe and that this process is applied in underdeveloped and undeveloped countries, Taşkın concluded his sentences as follows:

“As a concept, searching for gold with cyanide is dangerous. It is banned in Europe; they don't let it be done. They do it in underdeveloped countries like South America and Africa. Such disasters happen in those places too. They have hollowed out the city of Johannesburg in the Republic of South Africa for gold, and large pits have formed. Now, water is not drunk from there.”

News Source: Ezgi Sivritepe