Forest fires and large-scale deforestation are tools of the special war carried out in North Kurdistan. In this way guerrillas are to be deprived of their freedom of movement. In particular, in Lice, province of Amed, the military has started to cut down the forest.

Thousands of trees lost because of mining, dams and hydroelectric plants

The Mesopotamia Ecological Movement protested against this attack on nature with a declaration.

The text reads: “Every day more forests are being destroyed by fires in our country. The industrial economy does the rest. The available data clearly shows the systematic deforestation of the region. While there is still talk about lacking measures and deficiencies in the fight against fires, thousands of trees across the country have been lost due to mining, dams and hydropower plants."

The military cuts down forests and then sells the wood

The ecological movement links deforestation in Kurdistan with Turkish military operations and says: “Last summer alone, the forests on Mount Cudi burned for days during a military operation in the province of Şırnak. Nothing was done to put out the fires; on the contrary, trees were cut down, transported away in trucks and sold.

At the same time, the forests in Lice burned for three days. It wasn't until the second day that something was done. But while extinguishing fire from the air would have been necessary, only the land fire brigade moved in. That's why the fire broke out again. The same happened in the forest fires in Siirt and Mardin.”

Deforestation in Lice

According to information from the local population, dozens of trees belonging to villagers were cut down and transported on trucks, as part of a military operation in the proximity of the villages of Dibek, Huseyni and Pena.

Trees are air to breathe

The statement continues: “At a time when the climate crisis is making itself felt every day, while the whole world is debating how to reduce the effects of the climate crisis, the destruction of forests is extremely dangerous.

After all, every forest that is destroyed, every single tree cut, means the destruction of living beings in the forest ecosystem and leads to the extinction of entire species. The trees are the air we breathe. That is why we cannot afford to live without a single tree."