Before the AKP government, studies on geothermal energy conducted by the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) were mostly reserve discoveries. After the construction of the first geothermal power plant in Kızıldere in 1975, new plants were constructed after the legal amendment in 2005, when the AKP was in power.

Today, GPPs are mainly located in the Aegean Region, where fault and fracture lines are densely located. Geothermal power plants cause toxic gases, which are collected under the earth's surface during their operations and should never be inhaled, to enter the atmosphere and be inhaled through the air. It is known that many artificial earthquakes have been triggered by companies excavating on fault lines in order to increase the capacity of the facility and produce more energy. Aydın is the city with the highest number of GPPs, the first examples of which were seen during the AKP rule and which have become increasingly widespread within the framework of rent and plunder policies. With 32 GPPs, Aydın was one of the cities with the highest air quality in Turkey for many years. In the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in asthma and respiratory diseases in Aydın due to the hydrogen sulphide released into the air by GPPs.

THERMAL POWER PLANTS

There are 54 coal-fired power plants in Kurdistan and Turkey. During AKP rule, Turkey has become second only to China in the number of coal-fired power plants being developed worldwide. Coal-fired power plants, which the World Health Organisation has called on all countries to gradually shut down, are the cause of the biggest increase in greenhouse gases and must be close to both coal and water resources due to their working principles. For this reason, both existing and planned coal-fired thermal power plants are concentrated in coal reserve regions such as Maraş and port cities such as Zonguldak and İskenderun.

FOOD SAFETY ENDANGERED

Coal-fired thermal power plants cause pollution in underground and surface water sources from which drinking and irrigation water is supplied, and these plants cause the accumulation of highly toxic heavy metals such as nitrogen, lead, mercury and arsenic in agricultural areas. This, in turn, causes these heavy metals to enter the food chain through agricultural production, leading to the disappearance of food security. Nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter emitted by power plants by burning coal constitute a major public health problem. In particular, PM2.5, which is one thirtieth the size of a hair, enters the lungs and bloodstream due to its very small size and causes many fatal diseases. Due to its size, PM2.5 can even be carried hundreds of kilometres away by wind movements.

EXEMPT FROM ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS

Although flue gas emission limits were improved in 2020, emission level data, which is mandatorily reported to the government by emission facilities, is not publicly available in the Turkish Republic. Turkey has not ratified the Gothenburg Protocol to limit fine dust polluting other countries. The AKP, which allocated incentive shares from the budget to unfiltered thermal power plants during their shutdown and handed over their operations to the private sector, granted thermal power plants the right to be exempt from environmental investments.

THE PLUNDER OF CUDİ AND GABAR

The Cudi and Gabar mountains, where the policies of depopulation through village burnings and evacuations were the most intense in the 1990s, have also been the scene of the occupation of coal mines and oil exploration companies under the AKP government. Since 2013, companies have applied for a total of 517 mining projects in various branches in Şırnak and its districts. 166 of these projects were given a ‘not necessary’ decision for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, which is absolutely necessary, and the activities were allowed to start directly. In the period from February 2021 to September 2021 alone, 8% of Şırnak's forest cover was destroyed on the grounds of both security and mineral exploration. Grasslands and pastures, which villagers cannot enter without the permission of the gendarmerie, were opened to the plunder of oil and coal companies.

After Turkish President Erdoğan’s announcement that the oil reserves in Gabar could meet one tenth of the annual oil consumption of the Republic of Turkey alone, work accelerated. The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) has been making oil discoveries in Gabar Mountain since May 2021 within the scope of drilling activities carried out by destroying a large forest area in the region.

Despite the images of tonnes of trees cut down under the supervision of village guards, the EIA Report decisions issued as copy-paste for the companies carrying out oil and mining exploration activities in the region generally include the remarks ‘there is no agricultural land’ and ‘no forest presence’ in the area where oil drilling is planned and in the immediate vicinity.

Cudi is riddled with holes due to coal mines. Due to the companies that do not use filters in their chimney and discharge systems, the black, coal-coloured water discharged from Nerdüş Stream into the network threatens public health every year during summer when coal extraction activities accelerate.

GREEN ROAD PROJECT

The Green Road project undertaken by the Eastern Black Sea Project (DOKAP) Regional Development Administration aims to connect the highland roads in Samsun, Tokat, Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, Rize and Artvin. The main starting point of the project is to provide a ‘more comfortable’ transport route where tourists can do nature sports from Samsun to Artvin. In the road network with a total length of 4,631 kilometres, all stages of the project have been carried out independently of each other since its launch. It is known that only the tenders awarded to two companies in January 2023 for the construction of concrete roads between Hanzarya and Camiboğazı Plateau in the centre of Gümüşhane and Taşköprü in January 2023 resulted in a total of 18 million TL out of the public coffers for the Green Road.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of trees will be cut down in the first stage for the road, which will pass through forested terrain at an average altitude of 2000 - 2500 metres, and many concrete plants will be built to complete the road in an area of 2600 square kilometres. Ecologists point out that in the long term, with the facilities and accommodation to be opened on the route, the scale of ecological disaster and rent will increase 10 times more than what is visible.