Controversial Mine Clearing Law in Effect

A law concerned with the clearance of landmines buried on the border between Turkey and Syria was ratified by President Abdullah Gül on 16 June.

Opposition parties have expressed strong disagreement with the law because of plans to allow private companies clearing the area to use the cleared land for agriculture for 44 years.

Deniz Baykal, chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), had asked Gül to send the law back to parliament. He has also announced that the party would apply to the Constitutional Court if the law were ratified.

According to Law No. 5903, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, as well as unexploded ammunition will be cleared within the next five years. 2014 is the deadline which Turkey has been set by the Ottowa Treaty.

Three options

Preferably, the Ministry of Defence will oversee the mine clearance. Otherwise, the Ministry of Finance wll buy services for clearance, and bids for contracts will be guided by the Law on Public Bids. A commission made up of representatives from the General Staff, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Village Affairs will oversee the bids.

If neither of these options work out, then the following will happen:

A company will clear the land in return for using it for agricultural purposes for up to 44 years.

This bid will not be guided by the Law on Public Bids, but the Ministry of Finance will determine the conditions.

The bid will be awarded to the company asking for the lowest number of years of land use.

Military land and security areas near the border will also be cleared but not handed over to the company clearing the land.

With all three possibilities, the bids may be shared out among several companies.

Should minerals or petrol be found on the land, the relevant laws concerning such finds will be applied.

"Locals should benefit"

Not only opposition parties, but also local people in the area have criticised the law, calling for the land to be handed to landless farmers or to families of land mine victims or people injured by mines.

International mine expert Stuart Casey-Maslen had advised Turkey to make use of expert NGOs in the mine clearing process. (TK/AG)