‘Are you the CEO of Cengiz Construction or a minister of the state?’

* Photos: Twitter

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice Chair Ali Öztunç has commented on Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu's failure to respond to the allegations that the stone quarries in İkizdere in Rize were given to the Cengiz Construction company, a subsidiary of the pro-government Cengiz Holding, without lodging a tender.

In a written statement released on the official website of the CHP, Öztunç has said, "Minister Karaismailoğlu is trying to avoid these allegations by staying silent. As he sees it, he is trying to deceive both the people and the state, but everything is apparent with documentary evidence."

Minister uninformed about the project's duration

Öztunç has made the statement in response to what Minister of Transport Adil Karaismailoğlu said during a program on state channel TRT. "He is trying to create a perception about İkizdere with a fictional program. He cannot manage to do it and gives wrong information," Öztunç has said and added: "He says that the stone quarries in İkizdere will operate for two years. He should open and look at the promotion file of the project."

According to CHP MP Ali Öztunç, the duration of the project foreseen for the Cevizlik quarry is nearly 3 years. "If the request for capacity increase had not been rejected, this period would be 4.5 years. The operating period of the Gürdere quarry, for which he made an application in the name of Cengiz, is 5 years," Öztunç has explained further.

NOTE: During a program on TRT the other day, Minister Karaismailoğlu reacted against the villagers' resistance in the region and said, "Allegations about a 70-year stone quarry, or prospecting for gold are definitely not true. Our state does not allow marginal groups in any way at all. The ones who do it are enemies to the state."

'Entire process based on lies'

Further in his statement, Öztunç has said, "The stone quarry enterprise of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in İkizdere is not legally possible. Because in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports of the İyidere Logistics plans, they wrote that they would not set up a news stone quarry enterprise, they wrote that they would only extract stones. Now they say that the most suitable stones were there."

Underlining that "this suitableness should have been detected before presenting the EIA report of İyidere," Öztunç has stated:

"One institution of the state is openly deceiving another institution of the state. This is a crime. This is forgery of official documents. By doing this, they keep the total environmental damage to be caused by İyidere Logistics port hidden from the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization."

'There cannot be more than one EIA process'

Öztunç has also stressed that the İyidere Logistics port and the stone quarry project in İkizere are a single and integrated project.

He has noted that the related legal regulation stipulates that "a single EIA application shall be lodged in this case."

"However, the Ministry and the Cengiz Construction partnership made two sepaarte applications for the port project and the stone quarry project, as if they had been separate projects," he has protested.

"In none of the files of application is there information about the other projects. All three applications must be cancelled and a single EIA process must be carried out," he has said. Noting that "when Minister Karaismailoğlu was asked a question about İkizdere, he boasted about the port in İyidere," the CHP MP has underlined that "all three projects should have been mentioned in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report."

'Minister acted in the name of Cengiz'

Öztunç has also noted that there is still no response to the allegations that the Ministry made an application in the name of Cengiz Construction:

"They are trying to avoid the allegations by staying silent. But the people will not buy this. The Minister is openly making applications in the name of Cengiz Construction, he is deceiving the institutions of the state. Everything is apparent with its documents.

"Even Cengiz Construction's own CEOs have probably not served the company as much as he does. No one commits such a crime that will jeopardize his position to such an extent. We would like to ask the Minister: Are you the CEO of Cengiz Construction or the minister of the state?"

'Crime' documented by Öztunç

In a document shared by Ali Öztunç on May 3, an irregularity about the project in İkizdere was brought to light. According to this document, while the project owner was indicated as the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the email address of an engineer working at the Cengiz Holding was shared. In other words, before the EIA report of the stone quarry planned to be opened in İkizdere, it was certain that it would be given to Cengiz Holding.

What's happening in İkizdere?

A decision of urgent expropriation was taken in İskencedere Valley in the district with the Presidential decree for the quarry needed to be used in the logistics port construction to be built in the İkizdere, Rize.

Thereupon, the villagers took action and set up a tent at the entrance of the valley, started to keep watch and took the decision to the court. However, Cengiz Holding employees, who would carry out the construction, entered the valley on April 21 and started to work for the stone quarry.

Company employees, who came with the gendarmerie, asked the citizens who set up tents at the entrance of the valley and were on guard to remove their tents. Despite the reactions of the citizens on watch, the tents were lifted and the gendarmerie barricaded the entrance of the valley.

In a short time, the construction machines started to work, and the people of the region flocked to the valley. Citizens said that the authorities of the company working in the valley did not have any permissions and that the work was illegal. The resisting villagers ensured that the construction machinery left the area with their protests.

CLICK - 'Trees uprooted in İkizdere, villagers watch in tears'

Law enforcement fined the villagers for failing to comply with the curfew declared as part of the COVID-19 pandemic measures. The villagers continued to resist despite the fines. On Sunday, April 25, the villagers whose roads were blocked came with trucks from the forest and demanded the cessation of the activity and the withdrawal of the gendarmerie.

The gendarmerie did not withdraw and, as the resistance continued, they intervened with tear gas against the villagers. Several women were injured during the intervention, and the villagers were detained. The villagers, including İkizdere Associations Federation Chair Ziya Yıldırım, were later released. They were also fined due to the 3-day coronavirus lockdown.

Despite the resistance, it was revealed that Cengiz İnşaat applied for a capacity increase on 3 March while the construction was continuing and the 11th Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure gave the company permission to open a new quarry. Having faced protests over the stone quarry project for weeks, Cengiz Holding stated that the site for the quarry was chosen by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. (TP/SD)