SIRNAK - Greenpeace replied, "Unfortunately, the subject is outside of our area of expertise" to the appeal of the Şırnak Bar Association against the deforestation in the city. Attorney Sabri Çatıkkaş said: "How is the nature in Mediterranean matters but the nature in Kurdistan doesn't?"

 

Ecology suffers greatly in Şırnak due to mines, dams, Hydroelectric Power Plants (HEPP) and sand quarries. In addition, the forests of the city are being destroyed due to the deforestation in Cudi, Gabar and Besta regions by the rangers for "security" reasons. Şırnak Bar Association Environment and Urban Commission applied to organisations such as Greenpeace, the Wildlife Conservation Foundation (WWF) and the Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of Environmental and Cultural Values (ÇEKÜL) to take action against this ecological destruction.

 

'IT IS OUTSIDE OF OUR AREA OF EXPERTISE'

 

Responding to the bar application in writing a week ago, Greenpeace simply said "thank you". In the response, pointing out that Greenpeace continues to work only with individual support without any support from any political party or company, Greenpeace said: "Today, environmental crimes are constantly being committed in every part of Turkey. Due to limited opportunities, it is not possible for us to reach all of them and work on all kinds of environmental problems. For this reason, Greenpeace only focuses on certain issues in order to make the most effective use of this support it receives from individuals, and continues its work in the form of campaigns on those issues. In your e-mail, you shared your justified concern about the cutting of trees in your area. Although we are against all kinds of environmental problems as an institution, we can refer you to experienced non-governmental organisations that specialize in these issues and have carried out a lot of work so far, in order to reach the right answers and to finalize the issue quickly, since the subject is unfortunately outside of our areas of expertise above."

 

FOREST DIRECTORATE IS DEFORESTING NATURE!

 

Being a member of the Bar Association's Environment and Urban Commission Attorney Sabri Çatıkkkaş said: "Cutting of the trees is carried out by the Şırnak Forestry Operations Directorate. They carry out the plundering through tenders. The tenders are also held in violation of the tender laws. At the same time, the tenders are granted to people known to be close to AKP in Şırnak. Şırnak's forests are being cut down by them.”

 

Stating that they made a call to environmental organisations against the massacre, Çatıkkaş said: "We sent them the reports we prepared and the photographs we obtained regarding the plundering of the mountain in Şırnak via mail. We called for help. Even if they did nothing, we demanded that they at least call for this plundering of nature to be stopped. So far, only Greenpeace responded. In their response, they said that they knew that many nature crimes were committed in Turkey, but that they had a small budget as Greenpeace and that they were carrying out some studies they determined. They stated that they could not do anything about the plunder of nature."

 

THIS IS HYPOCRACY

 

Stating that they are no strangers to the answer given by Greenpeace, Çatıkkaş said: "Other institutions working on environmental protection also have the same approach. When it comes to the nature of Kurdistan, they all display the same attitude. To date, no international or national institution has raised a voice against the burning of forests or the cutting of trees. No one condemns the plundering of the nature, the mines and the sand quarries of region. There are reasons for this. These institutions receive aid from some states. They continue to exist with these aids. They turn a blind eye when it comes to the nature of Kurdistan, They don't want to confront the states that fund them. This is great hypocrisy. It is unacceptable for an institution established under the name of nature protection to discriminate between nature. The nature in the Mediterranean is nature, but isn't nature in Kurdistan a nature? Isn't the living life being destroyed there but not here? If the nature of Kurdistan is plundered and destroyed, will it not have an effect on the Mediterranean nature? This is hypocrisy.”

 

Demanding the end of the "hypocrisy", Çatıkkaş said: "All institutions in Kurdistan need to unite and help each other against this hypocrisy. We need to act together to stop this plunder of nature in Kurdistan. We need to support each other . If we collaborate, we can stop this plunder."

 

MA / Ömer Akın