"Mined Land too Precious to Give to Companies"

The farmers' union confederation Çiftçi-Sen has said that the land on the Syrian border, where hundreds of thousands of mines are buried, is the cleanest and most fertile land in Turkey. In terms of quality, so the farmers, one hectare equals five hectares.

Land of best quality

The confederation said, "There has never been cultivation on that land, so it is the best soil in Turkey. In terms of quality, you would be handing over not 210,000 hectares, but 1 million 50,000 hectares."

Land should be distributed among landless

For that reason, the farmers' union opposes government plans to turn over the land to private companies who would clear it of mines. Rather, it suggests that the government pay for clearance and then hand the land over to landless farmers, with the condition that they practice organic farming.

The land in question represents 1.76 percent of Turkey's cultivatable land, so Çiftçi-Sen, and they also want to see one or two organic agriculture training colleges open in the area.

Once the mines are cleared, the area could be turned into a pilot project for organic cultivation.

Opposition against plans to rent out land

According to a bill discussed in parliament, the government has plans to rent the land to companies clearing it of mines for a 49-year period. Opposition MPs from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) have opposed this model, especially because they do not want Israeli companies to join the bids, and they have demanded that the Turkish army clear the land.

However, the General Staff said in a statement last week that it did not have the equipment to carry out such clearances. It suggested support from NATO's maintenance and supply agency NAMSA.

Later, governmental spokesperson Cemil Çiçek said, "The government will listen to everyone's opinion, state its own, and take responsibility. It is as simple as that." Bülent Arınç, deputy PM, said, "It is natural for companies, who will take on a very expensive job, to make profit out of it."

Minister of Agriculture: "Distribution not viable"

Mehdi Eker, Minister of Agriculture, responded to the suggestion of distributing the land to landless farmers by saying, "It is not economically viable to distribute the land in small parts."

According to Turkey's Article 7 report published in 2004, the following number of mines are buried on the border with Syria:

Gaziantep (date unknown): 179,723, Hakkari (1991-1994): 46,104, İskenderun (date unknown): 23,836, Mardin (1991-1994): 84,899, Şanlıurfa (date unknown): 269,163 and Şırnak (1991-1994): 106,278.

Nearly one million mines buried

In a later report, Turkey told the UN that it had cleared 389 mines in 2007, but did not specify the location. Because of changes in border gates in Akçakale and Nusaybın, an area of 207,175 square metres was cleared of mines.

According to the compulsory Article 7 reports which Turkey hands in to the UN under the Ottawa Convention, there are 982,777 mines buried in Turkey. According to the convention, Turkey has to clear all land of anti-personnel land mines by 2014. (TK/AG)