Thousands Of Trees Have Been Cut Down In Turkey Because Of A Gold Mine Project!

As a part of golden mine project started in Kaz Mountains (Ida Mountains) which is one of the oxygen-rich areas in Turkey, nearly 195 thousand trees have been cut down.

A Turkish company called Doğu Biga Mining, which is the local partner of Canadian company Alamos Gold, started to build a gold mine in Kaz Mountains. Kaz Mountains is located in Çanakkale, Turkey near a town named Kirazlı. It is one of the most important oxygen-rich areas in Turkey. Even though The Environmental Impact Assessment Report indicated that only 45 thousand trees have been cut down because of this project in this area, it is found out that the real number is nearly 195 thousand.

On 26 July, a lot of people started a movement named “Water and Conscience Guarding” against this situation. In particular Çanakkale Municipality, some Turkish politicians, and celebrities supported this movement. The mayor called all the people to march in Kaz Mountains on 5 August. He emphasized the historical and natural values of the mountains and invited people to stand by them. He also writed a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Turkish Politicians, authors, non-governmental organizations, national and international press members and thousand of Turkish citizens marched in the construction site.

More than 10 thousand people marched in the area on 5 August. According to the posts shared on social media, people could successfully entered into the construstion site.

They protested the project with banners and also planted new trees in the place of the ones cut down. Finally, the Turkish Rock band Mogollar performed in Kaz Mouintains at the end of the night. Also, the well-known Turkish pianist Fazıl Say announced that he is going to perform in this area very soon.

Turkish musician and author Zülfü Livaneli writed a letter addressed to UNESCO about the situation in Kaz Mountains. Livaneli was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO in 1995. In his letter, he asked UNESCO for help to create international public awareness. Also in the social media, there is a great reaction about the subject. People started to tweet with the hashtags #Kazdağınadokunma, #Kazdağlarıhepimizin (Don't harm Kaz Mountains, Kaz Mountains belongs to all of us).

A fan account of famous actor Johnny Depp drew attention to the situation of the Kaz Mountains. The account posted a photo of Kaz Mountains and gave point to importance of it.