The Şırnak (Şirnex) Ecology Platform has condemned extensive environmental destruction in Turkey’s Şırnak region, accusing the Turkish state of using mining activities in the Cudi (Cûdî), Gabar, and Besta mountains as “special warfare” tactics against the Kurdish community, Mezopotamya News Agency reported on Wednesday. Over the past four years, a surge in mining sites, facilitated by military-backed operations, has driven residents from their homes while wreaking havoc on local ecosystems.
Ahmet Başak, a Şırnak Ecology Platform member, highlighted the intensifying challenges facing the region’s population as thousands of hectares of forest are razed for petrol, coal, and copper extraction. Every 15 days, authorities restrict civilian access to large areas under ‘Special Security Zones’ while mining companies, shielded by military forces, continue to clear forests and drill into the land.
“A new life cannot be built by destroying nature,” Başak said. “When it is destroyed, human life will also be destroyed.”
The ecological group asserts that these activities aim to push Kurdish residents from their ancestral lands, contributing to their cultural assimilation as they are forced to relocate. Başak decried the lack of coverage on this “massacre of nature” by national and international ecologists, accusing those who remain silent of indirectly supporting the destruction. He called for public solidarity, stressing, “It is our duty to stand up against this environmental devastation.”
The Şırnak Ecology Platform has previously appealed for a united resistance against the environmental destruction sweeping the region, as Kurdish communities contend with restrictions, arrests, and political repercussions related to their resistance efforts, most recently seen during Turkey’s last local elections.
