In Turkey and Kurdistan, nature is being destroyed day by day due to capitalism's greed for profit. The reduction and destruction of forested areas day by day seriously threatens life along with biodiversity.

 

The Mezopotamya Ecology Movement launched a "Planter" campaign on 1 December 2024 in order to prevent the ecological destruction in Kurdistan. Until 10 April, Amed Ecology Association activist Gökhan Sara spoke about the campaign and the ongoing ecological destruction.

 

Stating that the perception that the climate crisis created by the system can be solved through individuals is wrong, Sara said that the solution can be possible by changing the system. 

 

 

Sara said, "That is why our slogan is 'Change the system, not the climate.' It seems much more reasonable to evaluate issues such as climate crisis, thirst and drought through eco-crisis or climate crisis. We need to address the system as a whole."

 

Stating that beings should be handled through the human-nature and history relation, Sara said, "The relation we establish with nature is a relation that we handle as a chain of domination. It treats other beings as a structure of this domination in the form of exploitation. Therefore, when we consider only as beings, we do not evaluate them as living and non-living, on the contrary, we need to evaluate them all as living beings. For this reason, water, stones, etc. have the status of being for us. As long as the domination over nature is not removed, we cannot remove the domination over beings."

 

ECOCIDE IN KURDISTAN

 

Describing the impact of the current government on nature as "savage", Sara said that they can see the full extent of the ecocide in the Lîce (Lice), Pasûr (Kulp) and Pîran (Dicle) districts of Amed. 

 

Sara added, "There is a government that carries out ecocide in a wild way without determining a need for the importance of water, soil or trees, life, and without thinking about what can be done. The forest destruction in Şirnex is completely political. And when we consider the forests in Lîce, it is also political. While the system is trying to exploit Kurdistan with brutal capitalism practices, at the same time it is trying to destroy political areas without leaving them empty. Therefore, there is an ecocide in Wan (Van), Şirnex (Şırnak), Amed, Hasankeyf or on the Tigris and Euphrates River."

 

Calling for support for the "Planter" campaign, Sara continued, "The aim is to stand against the ecocide on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It is to stand against the wild mining in Wan, Pasûr and Pîran, against the eco-destruction in Hesenkeyf and Şirnex. We support this campaign on the basis of recreating life and protecting life. In this context, we ask all citizens to support the campaign by planting saplings in their neighbourhoods."

 

MA / Ömer Erdoğan