District mayor sparks local opposition to marble quarry project

Özay Gözetepe / DUVAR

Locals in the Antalya district ofİbradı have united in opposition to a planned marble quarry projectin the area, after the mayor announced late last month that a cedarforest in the district's Karamıklı village was slated to be cutdown to make way for the project.

“We will not allow the pillaging ofour water resources. In defiance of this pillage, I am inviting allof our people to the region as of tomorrow. The people of İbradıwill not permit a marble quarry to be built here,” said mayorSerkan Küçükkuru. The mayor's call prompted both locals and peoplefrom outside the area to protest the marble quarry.

The İbradı district, a lush area hometo just under three thousand people is nestled in the Taurusmountains. In 2017, a separate firm attempted to build a marblequarry in the same area, and the Antalya governorate determined thatthe firm did not need to obtain an environmental impact report (ÇED)prior to starting the project, on the grounds that the area inquestion covered less than 25 hectares. However, it was determinedthat the area actually spanned 100 hectares, and the project washalted in court.

Mayor Küçükkuru said that thecurrent firm has nevertheless obtained permission from the relevantgovernment ministries to go ahead with building a marble quarry inKaramıklı village, in spite of the court decision that halted theother firm's project.

It is not the first time this summerthat people in Turkey have demonstrated against a project that issaid to have devastating environmental consequences. In August,thousands assembled in the Kaz Mountains in the province ofÇanakkale, protesting a gold mine project operated by a Canadiancompany that has already resulted in the cutting of tens of thousandsof trees. Activists say that the number of trees that the company cutdown was four times higher than the figure given in an environmentalimpact report.