It has emerged that the necessary permission for the intended dam and hydroelectric power stations in Munzur Valley of Dersim, wasn’t obtained from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. To draw attention to this situation, a group of environmentalists organized an action yesterday in front of Dersim Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
A group leaded by Lawyer Barış Yıldırım came together in front of Dersim Ministry of Environment and Forestry and hung a banner written “Tunceli Provincial Department of Environment; now do your job and stop the activities of illegal HES in Munzur National Park”. Speaking for the environmentalists, Lawyer Yıldırım claimed that the dam and hydroelectric power stations that are intended to be built in Munzur Valley, are illegal. Remarking that a private company aims to do drilling works for Bozkaya and Kaletepe HES, Yıldırım spoke as follows;
“The Munzur Valley national park, where they intend to build dams, doesn’t have any secular development plan, which has to be prepared for the dam locations. Otherwise, the regulation doesn’t allow it. We wrote to Ministry of Environment and Forestry and demanded a reference whether the dams that are intended to be built in Munzur Valley, are legal or not. As a response, the Ministry wrote us that there isn’t any secular development plan for Munzur Valley national park and that they don’t have the information about the dam building. So, as stated in article 7 of National Parks Law, it must be known that ‘the necessary permissions will not be given unless a secular development plan is prepared in national parks’.” Stating that they made an application to Ministry of Environment and Forestry and National Parks General Directorate thereon and wanted information about the legal statute of Mercan HES’s building, which has already been completed and became operational, Yıldırım indicated that the mentioned company didn’t demand any legal permission. Saying that there are now three agreements signed by the Ministry and two separate companies in Munzur valley national park, Yıldırım said the followings; “Be more precise, all dams and hydroelectric power stations that are intended to be built in Munzur valley national park, are illegal as it stands. And the Ministry must absolutely not allow them. We have official documents showing that the dam buildings in the region are illegal. We are now hanging these documents on the door of the ministry, so that they can read them again and not allow for dam buildings. We hope that the Ministry of Environment and Forestry will do its duty and won’t allow for these works.”
Following the statement, the environmentalist group ended their act by chanting slogans.
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
ANF / DERSIM
ANF NEWS AGENCY
