Criminal complaint against mining company: ‘It is a crime against humanity’

* Photo: İsmail Hakkı Atal - Evrensel

Click to read the article in Turkish

Özkonak is a small town in the district of Avanos in Turkey's Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir. The locals of this town have been struggling against the mining activities of a Canada-based company in the region.

The people of Özkonak have appealed to the International Criminal Court and filed a complaint against the executives of Centerra Gold company on the grounds that they are "committing a crime against humanity."

Sending a petition to the courtt regarding the activities of the mining company in Özkonak, the locals and their attorney have indicated that 15 company executives should be charged with "intentionally causing climate change and ecological pollution with mining activities", "causing ecological change that led to coronavirus outbreak with mining activities" and "causing the death of 7.6 billion people living on the planet or a part of them".

As reported by Özer Akdemir from Evrensel newspaper, the petition has noted that the International Criminal Court is authorized to put the related persons on trial. Accordingly, the locals have demanded that the 15 people in question be penalized by opening an investigation and lawsuit.

'A crime is committed against humanity'

Filing a complaint about "crime against humanity", the petition submitted to the court has referred to scientific studies and reports and underlined that "the activities of the company's executive board members have harmed local ecosystems just as they have committed a crime against humanity by contributing to the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus outbreak through their activities undermining the ecological balance of the planet."

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According to the petition submitted to the court, "zoonotic viruses jumping from animals to humans are constantly mutated due to human-driven environmental factors-mining activities and climate change. The scientific studies conducted in and before 2010 foresaw that new coronaviruses ... would come and these mutations could lead to epidemics."

Attorney: This is now a struggle for life

Lawyer İsmail Hakkı Atal, who filed the complaint on behalf of locals, has made a press statement in front of Özkonak Underground City.

Addressing the locals there, the lawyer has underlined that while the Canadian companies have been protecting the trees in their own countries with law, a company cut down 350 thousand trees only in the Ida Mountain region in Turkey's western Çanakkale province.

"These imperialist companies have been committing an ecocide not only in our country, but all across the world," he has added.

Referring the omnibus bill foreseeing amendments to the energy and mining law that has recently been debated at the Parliament, Atal has said:

"While the omnibus bill was being debated at the sub-commission, the representatives of the sector were allowed to speak, but not the representatives of environmental and ecological organizations. This draft law is against the entire legislation and Constitution. The struggle for ecology and environment is now a struggle for life. We will resist to the end to protect our right to life from these imperialist companies."

Mining in Özkonak town

In late November 2020, Canada-capital company Centerra Mining Inc. started prospecting by drilling in a field which was previously designated as a plantation area with pine trees in the Derinkuyu Underground City in the southern part of Özkonak town in Avanos, Nevşehir.

Young pine trees in the middle of a steppe were uprooted with excavators and earth-diggers as part of these activities. 

The town's drinking water and agricultural irrigation water as well as the irrigation water of Köybağı and new drinking water wells of Avanos district are reportedly located in this region.

While the Centerra Gold company has also been operating a gold mining and flotation facility in Develi, Kayseri since 2015, it is alleged that 5 thousand people were poisoned after 1.7 tons of cyanide was mixed with water in another gold mine operated by the company in Kyrgyzstan in 1998. (TP/SD)