We will not sacrifice our olive groves to ransom

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality applied to the Council of State for the stay of execution and cancellation of the regulation change that paved the way for mining activities in olive groves. President of the case Tunç Soyer“We will not sacrifice our olive groves for rent,” he said.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which took action after the Regulation of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources on Amending the Mining Regulation was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force, applied to the Council of State. The Metropolitan Municipality requested the suspension and cancellation of the regulation that paves the way for mining activities in olive groves.

Regulation is against the law

In the petition prepared by the lawyers of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, the relevant articles of the Constitution were reminded. While it was stated that the administrative act subject to the lawsuit was unlawful, the following statements were used in the list of reasons consisting of 9 articles: The Constitution was created in violation of the Law No. 3573 on the Improvement of Olive Cultivation and Vaccination of Wilds, the Law on Soil Conservation and Land Use No. 5403, the Zoning Law No. 3194 and the relevant Regulations. For this reason, its execution should be stopped as it will cause irreversible damages in case of cancellation and implementation. Although the subject matter of the lawsuit was established by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, since it is related to mines, it is essentially related to a subject that is under the authority and responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Suspend execution without waiting for a response

Regarding the request for stay of execution and annulment, “The action is clearly unlawful. The conditions of Article 2577 of the Administrative Judgment Procedure Law No. 27 (IYUK) have been fulfilled. It should be accepted that if the defendant ministry's clearly unlawful action is implemented, olive groves will be destroyed, olive trees will face the threat of extinction, and this situation will cause serious damage to our nature when environmental effects are taken into account, and that it may cause irreparable damages. For this reason, we request a stay of execution immediately and without waiting for the answers of the defendants.

The plundering of our olive groves is not acceptable.

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Department of Agricultural Services also shared the following opinion on the subject: “Turkey is the producer of table and olive oil, which ranks first in the world. More importantly, the Mediterranean is the genetic homeland of the olive tree. Hundreds of thousands of farmer families in our country earn their living entirely from olive cultivation. Considering the olive and olive oil sector as a whole, 6-7 million of our citizens earn their living from this sector. Olive trees also play a very important role in maintaining the ecological balance. Olive trees are a habitat for many living species such as wildlife and birds, as well as benefiting the environment by reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While our world is turning to renewable energy sources for climate crisis and environmental pollution, it is still not acceptable to plunder our olive groves in order to open fossil fuel-based mines. One of the most important problems that will arise with the climate crisis will be the food crisis. Natural disasters that will occur as a result of the climate crisis, food deprivation, environmental pollution and disruption of ecosystem balance should not be the legacy we will leave to our children.

“The death warrant is ignorance at best”

Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerIn a statement on his social media account, “Those who want to sacrifice our olive trees to the mines must have thought that our olive oil would not be enough for our country, so they restricted their exports. We filed a lawsuit for the annulment of the regulation with a request for a stay of execution. We will not sacrifice our olive groves for rent,” he said.

What does the regulation contain?

According to the Regulation of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources on the Amendment of the Mining Regulation, if the mining activities carried out for electricity generation coincide with the areas registered as olive groves in the land registry and it is not possible to carry out the activities in other areas, the part of the olive field where mining activities will be carried out, the mining in the field. The Ministry may give permission to carry out activities and to construct temporary facilities related to these activities, taking into account the public interest. In this context, in order for the olive grove to be used, the person who will carry out mining activities must undertake to rehabilitate and restore the site at the end of the activities. In cases where it is not possible to move the field, there is a requirement to rehabilitate and restore the field at the end of the mining activities, and to undertake an olive orchard establishment in an area deemed appropriate by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in accordance with the planting norms, and in the same size as the field where the activity will be carried out. The person who is decided in favor of carrying out mining activities will be responsible for all costs related to the transportation of the olive field and all the demands arising from the transportation of the olive field.