Mud Flowing from Kamilet Valley
* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
Click to read the article in Turkish
Kamilet Valley, one of the natural beauties of Turkey's eastern Black Sea province of Artvin, is faced with a threat of ecological destruction.
The MNG Holding is running a Hydroelectric Power Plant Project in the region. Due to this unlawful project, mud is flowing from the valley now.
As reported by Gül Gündüz from Artı Gerçek news website, the MNG company started to build an access road in the region in June 2014. However, as the construction of the road could not be undertaken without a zoning plan, the works to open that road were halted.
However, the required zoning plan has been drafted for the access road in the meantime. The plan has been accepted. But, now, mud has been flowing from the valley for the last month.
'What is this hostility to nature all about?'
Erdoğan Güler, the Spokesperson for the Arhavi Nature Conservation Platform, has made the following statement about the issue:
"Since the year 2008, 2,400 Hydroelectric Power Plant projects have been planned for all brooks of Turkey. 14 of these 2,400 brooks are in our district, in Arhavi. There are almost 20 endemic species in Kamilet strait.
"Mud has been flowing in the brook for a month now. The extra soil from the road construction and the excavations for penstock pipes and regulators was dumped into the brook. It has become useless for the fish and other living beings. We are frequently calling the Artvin Provincial Directorate of Environment. What is this hostility to nature all about?
"There was an awareness in Arhavi with Kamilet. Because tourism and Hydroelectric Power Plant would not work out together. Great struggles were waged here, meetings and demonstrations were organized.
"How is such an irony, how is such foolishness even possible? The MNG company has destroyed the valley on the right side. They have now declared it a national park."
About Kamilet Valley
It is located 15 kilometers from the district of Arhavi in Turkey's eastern Black Sea province of Artvin. With Fırtına Valley, it is one of the "100 Hot Spots" that need to be protected in Europe. One of its most important features was that it had not yet been transformed by humans.
Home to approximately 11 thousand plant species, Kamilet is one of the richest basins of Turkey in terms of biological diversity. 40 percent of the plants growing in the region are medical plants. It is one of the places with the highest population of bears. (EMK/SD)