‘Environmental rights cannot be a subject of investigation’

* Photo: MUÇEP / Twitter

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60 bar associations have signed the joint statement which was issued by 81 lawyers from the Urban and Environmental Lawyers Network of Bar Associations of Turkey in solidarity with Deniz Gümüşel.

Environmental Engineer Deniz Gümüşel from the İkizköy Environmental Committee was taken into custody on November 14 because she protested that YK Energy, a company that operates thermal power plants and coal mines, sponsored the Olive Harvesting Festival in Milas in Muğla.

In their joint statement, 81 lawyers underlined that the release of Gümüşel a day later was not enough and demanded that the ones who issued a detention warrant against her be investigated immediately.

60 bar associations across the country have signed this joint statement as well, saying, "We declare to the public that if our environmentalist citizen faces a court case, we will stand with her."

In the statement, it is recalled that "a citizen who struggles to ensure that 'humans can lead a humane life and the earth can be a home for all living beings and with health' was taken into custody because she exercised her right of protest without resorting to violence."

The signatories have underlined that "the public authorities and law enforcement who decided for a legal action against her should realize that they are - knowingly or unknowingly - serve the interests of some companies and cause irreparable harm to nature and human life."

The statement has noted that "what is essential here is launching an investigation against the ones who launch unfair investigations, rather than investigating the ones who exercise their right to protest."

Referring to Turkey's recent ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement and the decisions taken at the COP26 summit, the statement has indicated that "an attitude criticizing the coal policies that threaten olive groves and trees ended in detention, which manifests the coming danger."

Concluding the statement, the signatories have said, "The fact that environmental engineer Deniz Gümüşel is released does not mean that the unlawfulness has been eliminated. We declare to the public that if our environmentalist citizen faces a court case, we will stand with her."

The undersigned bar associations:

Adana Bar Association, Adıyaman Bar Association, Afyonkarahisar Bar Association, Ağrı Bar Association, Aksaray Bar Association, Ankara Bar Association, Antalya Bar Association, Ardahan Bar Association, Artvin Bar Association, Aydın Bar Association, Balıkesir Bar Association, Batman Bar Association, Bayburt Bar Association, Bingöl Bar Association, Bitlis Bar Association, Bolu Bar Association, Burdur Bar Association, Bursa Bar Association, Çanakkale Bar Association, Çankırı Bar Association, Çorum Bar Association, Denizli Bar Association, Diyarbakır Bar Association, Düzce Bar Association, Edirne Bar Association, Eskişehir Bar Association, Gaziantep Bar Association, Giresun Bar Association, Hakkari Bar Association, Isparta Bar Association, İstanbul Bar Association, İzmir Bar Association, Kahramanmaraş Bar Association •Kars Bar Association, Kastamonu Bar Association, Kırıkkale Bar Association, Kırklareli Bar Association, Kocaeli Bar Association, Konya Bar Association, Mardin Bar Association, Mersin Bar Association, Muğla Bar Association, Muş Bar Association, Ordu Bar Association, Sakarya Bar Association, Samsun Bar Association, Siirt Bar Association, Sivas Bar Association, Şanlıurfa Bar Association, Şırnak Bar Association, Tekirdağ Bar Association, Tokat Bar Association, Trabzon Bar Association, Tunceli Bar Association, Van Bar Association, Yalova Bar Association, Yozgat Bar Association, Zonguldak Bar Association.

What happened?

The Akbelen Forest in Muğla's Milas was cut down in order to provide the Yeniköy Kemerköy Thermal Power Plant operated by the LİMAK Holding with lignite. The villagers of İkizköy, where the forest is located, have been waging a struggle in the face of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry permission to open a lignite mine in the 740-decare Akbelen Forest.

Villagers and environmentalists sued the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the General Directorate of Forestry by applying to the Muğla 1st Administrative Court. Receiving the defense of the administration, the court ruled for an expert examination in the forest.

Not waiting for the court ruling, the Directorate General of Forestry came to the forest with excavators on July 17 and started cutting trees. In response, the people of İkizköy filed a criminal complaint against the officials of the Directorate General for "misconduct in office."

The cutting of trees stopped thanks to the struggle of the villagers who put up tents and started keeping watch at the entrance of the forest. (TP/SD)