Independent Candidates May Act Green

As 5 June is International Environment Day, bianet spoke with lawyer Arif Ali Cangi of the Agean Environment and Culture Platform (EGECEP), Hilal Atici from Mediterranean Greenpeace and Ümit Sahin of the Turkish Greens.

Political reasons behind pollution

They said that the major parties all had the same attitude to environmental policies, but that independent candidates could draw attention to the political reasons behind environmental pollution.

According to Sahin, independent candidates should show the same sensitivity towards topics like global warming, nuclear energy, and the destruction of the world as towards other issues such as nationalism, racism, war, neo-liberalism and social politics.

Atici said that most party programmes only paid lip-service to the protection of the environment. Today there still exists the mindset of fifty years ago, when "development" was a question of investments made in Turkey.

The MPs are not sufficiently aware of environmental issues such as global warming. Atici added that environmental issues could not be "national" issues, as they went across borders.

Environmental issues in Turkey

Cangi gave examples of environmental problems in Turkey, starting with the Bergama gold mine that villagers have been protesting against since 1992. Although there have been many governments since then, the issue has not been resolved. Similarly, the Black Sea coastal road, which was started in 1987 and which destroyed many habitats, was worked on by different governments.

The controversial plan to introduce nuclear energy to Turkey, which is after all a country which experiences many earthquakes, was discussed in the 1980s under the then-Prime Minister, and it has recently been passed by the AKP-dominated parliament. (TK/AG/EÜ)