Turkey's first climate lawsuit filed on behalf of Lake Marmara fishers

* Photo: Nature Association

Click to read the article in Turkish

Marmara Lake, after which Manisa's Gölmarmara district is also named, has lost 98.18 percent of its surface area over the 10-year period from 2011 to 2021; the lake has almost totally dried up as a result of the wrong water policies and inertia of the state institutions.

After the public authority requested rent from the fisher's cooperative for the dried lake and sent an order of payment of the cooperative within this context, a climate lawsuit has been filed on fishers' behalf.

Not regarding the problem as a mere rental debt, the Altıparmak Law Office has decided to serve as the attorneys of the Lake Marmara fishers in a "pro-bono" case, meaning a legal service for the public good.

The Law Office has announced that it has applied to the Manisa Administrative Court and filed the first climate lawsuit of Turkey so that it will be acknowledged that Lake Marmara has dried as a result of the country's policies in complete contrast with its pledges under the UN Climate Change Framework Convention and the Paris Climate Agreement and that the public administrations are responsible for the drying of Lake Marmara.

'It has a strategic importance for climate lawsuits'

Announcing the lawsuit in a written statement, the Altıparmak Law Office has underlined that climate lawsuits, also termed climate change litigation, are of strategic importance so that the governments and companies can be held accountable for their policies and decisions that are in contrast with the struggle against climate change and for their inertia.

The statement of the law office has recalled that Turkey ratified the Paris Climate Agreement in 2021 and made a zero carbon pledge by the year 2053, underlining that limiting the emission of fossil fuels is not enough for Turkey to comply with these commitments.

It has explained that in order to do this the country should also "protect, rehabilitate and even increase the number of areas that are recognized as carbon sinks and hold the gasses that lead to global warming".

Destruction in Lake Marmara

Recalling that wetlands are one of the major carbon sinks, the law office has noted that Lake Marmara was declared a "wetland of national importance" in 2017, which makes it a carbon sink that needs to be protected.

The office has said, "However, the policies of the public authority in contrast with its commitments about the struggle against climate change have led to destruction in Lake Marmara and destroyed a wetland".

'Administration responsible for the damage'

Speaking about the lawsuit, Cem Altıparmak, a lawyer for the fisher's cooperative, has said, "We have filed this lawsuit as a climate lawsuit in order to make the responsibilities of Turkey about climate change visible and to acknowledge that it acts against these responsibilities".

The lawyer has added, "In this case, we will prove that the erroneous and unplanned water policies of the state have led the lake to dry up, that the administration is completely responsible for it and the losses arising from this are also at the responsibility of the administration".

Lawyer Özlem Altıparmak has also indicated that "this case is a first in terms of climate change litigation" in Turkey, adding that "as long as Turkey does not draw up an effective strategy and action plan to struggle against the climate change, these cases will surely continue".

About Lake Marmara

Recognized as an Important Bird Area, Lake Marmara hosts as many as 65,000 water birds in winter. Nine percent of all dalmatian pelicans in the world spend the winter in the lake. The drying of the lake threatens the vulnerable pelicans, as well as other birds.

Lake Marmara is also an Important Natural Area and has two endemic fish species, which are also endangered due to the drying. (TP/SD)