“We should stop ecological plunder,” said Halime Şaman, a volunteer at the Muğla Environmental Platform, calling for a united struggle against ecological plunder in Türkiye and Kurdistan.
The Ecology Union composed of 86 ecological/environmental organizations held a conference in Amed on May 11 to determine a road map against ecological plunder in Türkiye and Kurdistan. “We must resist for the protection of our nature,” said Halime Şaman, a volunteer at the Muğla Environmental Platform and a member of the Ecology Union.
Ecological destruction carried out in Kurdish cities has intensified due to dams, mines, logging and the exploration of oil wells. The ecological plunder continues to be carried out despite the efforts aiming at stopping it. The policies of ecological plunder are carried out in different ways in the West of Türkiye, aiming at impoverishing the people. Ecologists call for a united struggle against these policies.
‘The struggle for ecology is a game-changing struggle’
The struggle for ecology is a common struggle without discrimination, Halime Şaman emphasized, saying, “The struggle for ecology is a game-changing struggle, breaking all masks. The state tries to maintain its existence by forming artificial agendas to plunder nature. A pickaxe struck on the branch of an oak tree in Şırnak is a strike on the branch of an olive tree in the Aegean. We will keep struggling against ecological plunder and depopulation everywhere because this policy of plunder has no intention of stopping.”
‘There is a corporatized system of states all around the world’
Capital owners are gradually controlling every field by becoming the enemies of every stone, soil and tree, Halime Şaman indicated, adding, “As the Ecology Union, we discuss effective methods of struggle. Capital knows very well the struggle for ecology in each region and the ways to break the resistance. We will keep speaking out against the ecological plunder no matter what happens. We will keep telling the truth everywhere. There is a corporatized system of states all around the world. Türkiye also has a corporatized system. Companies can easily amend laws according to their own interests. Due to their policies, we are becoming poorer every day. We are displaced from our hometowns. We must unite against such policies.”
‘We must say no to displacement, poverty and plunder’
Halime Şaman thinks that people should protect their own living spaces. Calling on people not to believe in the lies of capitalists claiming that they will provide employment and develop their society. “Capitalists try to deceive people everywhere. The gold mine disaster in the İliç town of Erzincan shows how capitalists deceive people. People should protect their own living spaces and their nature against capitalists. Both people and ecologists must unite against ecological plunder. We must say no to displacement, poverty and plunder.”
