In the province of Mardin, protests are mounting against the activities of the mining company Eti Bakır A.Ş., which belongs to the large corporation Cengiz Holding. In several villages around the district of Mazıdağı, residents accuse the company of massive interference with nature and their habitat – including the mining of phosphate, gold, and boron, even though there is apparently no valid environmental assessment.
The complaints of the villagers have now been forwarded to the Commission for Urban and Environmental Law of the Amed (Diyarbakır) Bar Association. A public statement is planned for tomorrow in the particularly affected village of Gola Gûlê. The initiators are calling on climate movements, social groups, and committed individuals to participate in the demonstration.
Blasting, dust, disappearing water sources
Mehmet Aktaş, a resident of Gola Gûlê, describes the effects of mining as dramatic; the fields are producing less, plant species have disappeared, and many people are experiencing breathing difficulties. This is also due to regular blasting with dynamite, which shakes the ground, damages houses, and causes watercourses to dry up.
“Our springs used to have a strong flow—now there’s hardly any water coming out,” said Aktaş. “The landscape has completely changed. Our childhood, our memories, our mountains have simply been blown away. Even birds and wild animals have long since disappeared from the region.”
“What belongs to you is simply taken away from you”
Aktaş is particularly critical of the company’s handling of private property. Residents report forced expropriations in which money was transferred to them without their consent. “If you don’t give up your land voluntarily, they say the state will just take it. They threaten you with the police and the courts. Then they dig under your land for mineral resources. You’re left with dust, noise, and destruction,” Aktaş stated.
Aktaş said that his own house was also damaged by the tremors. Cracks in walls, crumbling facades, and fear of the next explosion characterize everyday life for many families.
Call for resistance – rally on September 14
“What is happening here must not be accepted in silence,” said Aktaş. Together with other affected parties, he is calling on people to come to the rally in Gola Gûlê against environmental destruction, for the protection of livelihoods, and for the rights of the people affected. “We need solidarity now,” he emphasized. He addressed environmentalists, social movements, left-wing groups, and everyone who cares about nature and the common good: “If we don’t act now, we will lose even more.”
The villagers are demanding intervention by the relevant ministries, independent environmental assessments, and an immediate halt to the blasting. “We do not accept that entire villages, landscapes, and life stories are being wiped out for the sake of profit,” said Aktaş.
The large corporation Cengiz Holding is known as the greatest destroyer of ecological and social balance in Kurdistan and Turkey. Cengiz Holding is part of the so-called “gang of five,” a corporate complex closely intertwined with the AKP government that profits massively from public-private partnership projects. At the top is Mehmet Cengiz, an economic boss loyal to Erdoğan, who has gained too much money, power, and influence since the AKP came to power in 2002. He and other members of his family often appear on the Forbes list of the richest Turks. Mehmet Cengiz’s name can also be found in the Panama Papers. The disclosure of the Panama Papers in 2016 by a whistleblower provided a glimpse into the offshore world of shell companies and tax havens.