Attacks against protesters with police tear gas,Artvin Cerattepe and Genya mine, February 2016.EJAtlas. All rights reserved.Environmental rights are now
\nwidely recognized by many constitutions throughout the world. The 1982
\nconstitution of Turkey also recognizes a right to health and a balanced
\nenvironment (article 56). Nevertheless, the application of this right on the
\nground has not been free of contestation, particularly when big projects with opportunities
\nfor vast profit are at stake. In fact, the application of environmental rights
\nis becoming one of the most incendiary battlegrounds of the twenty first
\ncentury, where the rules of capitalism are most urgently on course to be
\nmodified.<\/i><\/p>\n
Currently, the Artvin-Cerattepe
\nmine case, the biggest environmental legal case in Turkey, constitutes one of
\nthese battlefields, where the lives and livelihoods of many are being put in
\ndanger by copper and gold mine prospecting in the region. During the final hearing
\nof the case on September 19, the litigant lawyers demanded recusal and
\nabandoned the court-room amid extensive security precautions.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are under immense pressure,\u201d
\nclaimed the legal representative in the case of Bedrettin Kalin. The movement
\nagainst the controversial mine construction has been going on for more than
\ntwenty years now. Despite several court decisions ordering the abandonment of
\nthe mine project based on the right to a healthy, balanced environment, the
\ncompany was able to obtain new environmental impact assessment reports (EIA) and
\nreclaim the project. <\/p>\n
Hence, the case is significant
\nfrom many angles; the ability of the company to obtain a new EIA every time,
\nthe inability of the Turkish legal structure to put an end to the project, and
\nthe everlasting determination of the local people involved in mobilization
\nagainst it.\u00a0Cerattepe\u2019s history of struggle lasting for more than twenty
\nyears and the fact that the mine is still not operational makes the battle a
\nlandmark environmental case for analysts.<\/p>\n
Located 30 km inland from the
\nBlack Sea, Artvin is a city in the north-eastern part of Turkey with a
\npopulation of around 168, 370. It is part of the Caucasus Ecoregion, one of the
\nmost biologically rich and culturally diverse zones in the world. It is home to
\n1,268 different species, 199 of which are endemic to the area. Both due to its
\nrich biodiversity and unique natural beauty, Artvin has enormous eco-tourism
\npotential, comparable only to the Swiss and French Alps. Nevertheless, it only
\nhas one, neglected skiing area, the Kafkasor Recreation Zone.<\/p>\n
The area is very rich in raw
\nmaterials, including gold, silver, zinc and copper reserves. Field explorations
\nat the site were launched by the General Directorate of Mineral Research and
\nExploration (MTA) in 1986. In its concluding report, the MTA suggested that no
\neconomically significant source was detected in the region. In 1988, however,
\n\u00d6ner G\u00fcrses, a close relative of an engineer working at MTA, obtained the
\npreliminary exploration rights in the region for a very low cost, around 200
\nTurkish liras. A year later, he sold the exploration license to Cominco, a
\nCanadian company, for an amount around 6 trillion Turkish liras. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Initial objections were raised
\nagainst Cominco during its exploration of the site in 1994. The company drilled
\naround 560 wells in the region, and during this process, local water was
\ncontaminated by heavy metals and hazardous chemicals. Consequently, a few cows
\ndied, and samples taken from the cows to be investigated were then lost. This
\nincident raised suspicion among the local people. Cominco responded to these
\nconcerns by organizing a panel on gold mining, together with the Municipality
\nof Artvin. Despite these efforts, the locals became even more worried about the
\nenvironmental consequences of gold mining after this conference.\u00a0
\nSubsequently, in 1995, the Green Artvin Association was established. The
\nAssociation invited several academics to Artvin in order to carry out a
\nscientific investigation of the area and also to reassure the public about the
\neffects of gold mining. <\/p>\n
Green Artvin Association held its
\nfirst demonstrations against the mine in 1997. The group collected around
\n10,000 signatures on petitions prepared in 1997 and again in 2002. Finally, in
\n2005, a lawsuit was filed against the project, and in 2008, Rize Administrative
\nTribunal revoked the mining license. The biggest achievement for the movement
\ncame in 2009, when the Council of State nullified the licenses.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, in 2011, the
\nMinistry of Energy and Natural Resources modified the mining law again. The new
\nlaw enabled the Ministry to grant a new operation license to the Cerattepe
\nmine, along with 1,342 other mining sites in Turkey. In the tendering process,
\nOzalt\u0131n company obtained the license and transferred it to Etibak\u0131r company
\nowned by Cengiz Construction Company. Subsequently, protests were sparked
\nagain. In 2013, another lawsuit was filed against the company by 281 people.<\/p>\n
Until the Rize Administrative
\nTribunal annulled the company\u2019s EIA in January 2015, the protestors prevented
\nthe company from cutting trees and starting to transport equipment and trucks
\nto the site. Following the decision of the Rize Administrative Tribunal, the
\ncompany carried the case before the Council of State for appeal. However, at
\nthe same, the company obtained another EIA before the appeal decision. The
\nCouncil of State approved the order of the local administrative court to
\nnullify the licenses of the company. However, that decision of the Council of
\nState stemmed from the previous environmental impact assessment report of the
\ncompany. Therefore, this time, local people from Artvin filed another lawsuit
\nagainst the company, bringing together 751 participants and 61 attorneys,
\nmaking this the biggest environmental legal case in Turkey\u2019s history. They kept
\nsurveillance over Cerattepe for 245 days by staying in a small wooden cottage
\nuntil police intervened. Currently, the road to Cerattepe is blocked by the
\npolice. The decision over the recusal demand is scheduled to be announced in a
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
The Artvin-Cerattepe struggle
\nclearly shows the inability of the Turkish legal system to be a forum through
\nwhich the environmental rights of people can be implemented. In addition to the
\nincompetence of the Turkish legal system, this case illustrates how twenty
\nfirst century power politics is being played out in the arena of environmental
\nprojects. Actually, famous power politics concepts of international relations
\nno longer apply to state-to-state relations. In today`s world, where capital is
\nglobalized, power politics is the concept defining the battle between
\nglobalized capital and activists with transnational civic values. Who will win?
\nIt will be the activists \u2013 but only if the world stops praising capital in good
\ntime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attacks against protesters with police tear gas,Artvin Cerattepe and Genya mine, February 2016.EJAtlas. All rights reserved.Environmental rights are now widely recognized by many constitutions throughout the world. The 1982 constitution of Turkey also recognizes a right to health and a balanced environment (article 56). Nevertheless, the application of this right on the ground has not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}