A delegation of the Green Left Party visited the Kurdish village of Demirkapı in the Göle district of Ardahan province, which is suffering a large-scale ecocide at the hands of the Turkish state.

Green Left Party MP for Kars, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, made a statement in the village and denounced the ruling AKP’s policy of ecocide in the Kurdish region. She stated that a large-scale deforestation campaign is being implemented in the village where forests and even young trees are brutally destroyed.

Koçyiğit pointed out that the AKP has been waging a war against nature for many years and left no tree standing. “A policy of ecocide is being implemented in the strictest sense, for opening mine sites in some places, for security reasons in other places like Cudi, and for mining in Akbelen. In Göle, they are destroying forests under the pretence of regeneration. The AKP is still hungry for destroying our trees, forests and drying out our streams.”

Koçyiğit stated that the AKP sought to destroy all the living spaces, adding: “We have to stand up for our nature against a mindset that targets forests, water and natural richness. We will fight against it and protect our land. The ecocide executed in this region seeks to depopulate the people from this region. We know only too well that this is a policy of depopulation and ecocide. We call on everyone to raise their voices against these policies.”