"Botan, Diyarbakır and Dersim Forests are Evidently on Fire

Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Ecology and Mesopotamia Ecology Movement and defenders of nature from different cities of Turkey went to southeastern providences Siirt, Diyarbakır and eastern province Dersim to examine current forest fires.

40 people from Lawyers for the Environment and Ecology Movement (ÇEHAV), Yeşilgazete, Gaia magazine, Mersin Anti-Nuclear Platform, Akader, Anticapitalistic Muslims travelled around the regions of Botan, Diyarbakır and  Dersim.

Observers told bianet helicopter attacks caused forest fires, the state officials didn’t intervene in fires and besides impeded attempts to extinguish the fire and finally many species were extinct as a result of the forest fires.

Legal action would be taken

Deniz Gedik on behalf of ÇEHAV stated they would take legal action against the destruction of the nature and call for international initiatives to participate in the struggle since burned areas were parts of world heritage. 

Villagers try to extinguish the fire by garden rakes

Devrim Yücel from Dersim Ecology Council a 1400-hectare area in Dersim province was burned down and left long-legged buzzards, tortoises, eagles and hawks dead. It was stressed that wildlife was under threat.

According to the eyewitnesses, most of the forest fires resulted from helicopter attacks and armed conflicts or an attempt of sabotage. Few of them resulted from live cigarette stubs.

They aim to wipe out people from the region

Medical specialist Sergen Sucu from DTK told endemic plants withered and so villagers were affected monetarily. Sucu added the state aimed to wipe out people from the region with the help of economic collapse and ecologic destruction and they would establish mines in the uninhabited regions. (NV/BD)

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