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EU Does Not Care About Destruction Caused By Mega Projects

14.02.2016 12:24

Mega projects apparently have particular importance within the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) urban transformation process; the Kanal İstanbul, the third airport and third bridge in İstanbul, the Eurasia Tunnel and the Gulf Passage are just a few of them.Despite their differences in scale, they.

Mega projects apparently have particular importance within the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) urban transformation process; the Kanal İstanbul, the third airport and third bridge in İstanbul, the Eurasia Tunnel and the Gulf Passage are just a few of them.
Despite their differences in scale, they have much in common in terms of being non-transparent AKP projects that were initiated without public consent and without considering people's needs.
These projects are going to create a massive burden for society because of the lack of analyses concerning their environmental impact and the possible short and long-term effects: social, cultural, economic and ecological.
From the perspective of civil society-politics relations, one can easily say that these projects are not in line with human rights, democracy or the sense of justice with their decision-making process and implementation. The fact that the people do not take part in the decision-making process leading up to these projects emerges as a weakness in democracy.
The Northern Forests, which are a source of life particularly for İstanbul and the Marmara region, are whetting the appetite of government officials, as well as their inner-circle cronies. The Northern Forests, with their seasides, lakes and islands are under threat of being destroyed by projects such as the third bridge, the third airport and Kanal İstanbul, as part of the intense attacks of the construction business. The danger is growing each day.
When this is the picture, the government does not care about facts such as the third airport affecting bird migration routes or that Kanal İstanbul is set to cause irreversible ecological destruction in the Sea of Marmara; what matters to those in power is simply benefiting their cronies.
The European Greens and the Turkey branch of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation held a conference last month in Brussels called Environmental Justice in Turkey. The event was both intended to somewhat revive Turkey's accession bid for the European Union, which has been fading away, and to proceed with the Environment Chapter, which has been under negotiation since 2009. Mega projects, as a frequently discussed issue in Turkey, and the country's environment policies within its EU membership process were tackled at the conference.
Those who attended the conference have the impression that the only top agenda of Europe is currently the refugee crisis and counterterrorism. Humanity is going through tough times; the plight of Syrian refugees who flee their war-torn country to survive is a huge tragedy. The Aegean Sea has become a graveyard for hundreds of people after they boarded boats in the hope of reaching Europe. Surely, Europe is also accountable for trying to put the responsibility solely on Turkey and Greece, which neighbor the Aegean Sea, for turning the two countries into refugee guards and closing its borders through inhumane policies.
At the conference the speakers from Turkey explained to the attendees that financial support from European bodies for the country's mega projects will mean support for ecological destruction. They said about how people's struggle to protect the environment and ecology has basically become a battle of defending habitats and that top-down government practices are fundamentally affecting people's lives.
During one of the sessions at the conference, where European Commission members also participated, Arif Ali Cangı, an attorney specializing in environmental cases, gave a presentation on Turkey's practices of environmental impact assessment (ÇED) and the problem of urgent expropriation. He said: “At the moment, the EU sees Turkey as a partner which is going to keep the refugee crisis away from Europe and help it with fighting terrorism. This leads them [EU countries] to overlook some of the facts concerning Turkey. The EU's current view of Turkey has been strikingly stated by Veronica Sabbag Afota, policy officer of Turkey desk of the European External Action Service [EEAS]. She said, ‘The refugee deal helped us become close to Turkey, which claimed a strategic role in [the] refugee crisis and [in] counterterrorism.' The role the EU chose for Turkey in the present day is ‘keeping refugees away from Europe.' This was also admitted by other bureaucrats and members of parliament who spoke with us. Even a Christian Democratic Party representative who is against Turkey's accession to the EU said, ‘Europe needs Turkey in resolving the refugee crisis; we don't want Turkey's membership, but we support it approaching the EU accession process'.”
Another issue is that Europe desires to use Turkey as an energy corridor in order to be liberated from dependence on Russia in terms of energy. This is significant for demonstrating Europe's stance on many controversial mega projects in Turkey. The ecological destruction in the country is being ignored for the sake of the safety of the country's energy supply and the reinforcement of the transportation network.
Nevertheless, it is essential that civil society in Turkey improve its relations with European bodies so that the latter can be informed about developments in the country, not only from ministries or bureaucrats but also from nongovernmental organizations.
This would enable those who work in the environmental field to shift the focus from Europe to ecology in Turkey. Because now is the time to think of ways of how Turkey is going to survive this ecological wreck; it could be too late when everything is over.

PELİN CENGİZ [Cihan/Today's Zaman]



 
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