‘Cutting of trees continues in Şırnak for two years’

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change granted mineral exploration permits for 20 regions in southeastern Turkey, covering Şırnak city center, Cizre, Uludere, İdil, Beytüşşebap, and Silopi districts, without even requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

Trees in Şırnak and other mostly Kurdish-populated cities have been cut down for “security” reasons for a long time.

On the subject, People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Şırnak Deputy Hasan Özgüneş has submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the Parliament.

He has asked who is responsible for cutting the trees and what activities were carried out after the tree felling.

HDP Şırnak Deputy Hasan Özgüneş

“The destruction has been continuing for two years”

Özgüneş has stated the following in the inquiry:

“According to the news and the statements of eyewitnesses, for the last two years, security guards have been cutting trees, especially in the regions indicated as Cudi, Gabar, and Besta. Previously, thousands of decares of trees were cut in the rural areas of Dağkonak, Cevizdibi, Anmış, Üçkiraz, and Kemerli, located on the slopes of Mount Cudi.

“The same situation continued in Şerevan, Cemiller, Xirbekbesta, Töşemi, and Deloser locations in the Besta region. Despite our warnings, this plundering of nature and tree cutting has been continuing for two years.”

Özgüneş has stated that, in addition to the damage to the ecosystem, the cutting of trees, which is usually carried out for “security” reasons in the Şırnak province, destroys the living spaces and livelihoods of the locals. He has quoted a citizen named Fatma Kabul, who lives in the Ayvan village.

“We can’t even pick beets”

In her statements in the Mesopotamia Agency, Kabul has said:

“We want to return to our village and live there. It is torture to us. We miss our village life so much. But now the trees in our mountains are being cut down. We do not want our trees to be cut down and our nature to be plundered. The guards are cutting down our trees, while our mountains are being attacked. We cannot even go to our villages and collect beets. When we go, the guards and soldiers block us. Our call to the guards is this: Stop cutting trees now. Let the attacks and tree cutting end.”

Economic resources of the people

Özgüneş has also drawn attention to the necessity of establishing a Parliamentary Investigation Commission on the tree cuttings in Şırnak:

“The people’s income from agriculture and animal husbandry are destroyed. Authorized institutions silently watch this situation. A Parliamentary Investigation Commission must be established to investigate the reasons for this destruction of nature, and to protect our forests.” (TY/TB/SD)