Devlet Bahçeli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has called for the replacement of the expert committee that found Anagold Mining at fault for what has been dubbed ‘the country’s worst ecological disaster’ at the country’s Çöpler gold mine.
In a surprising move, the ultra-right leader and Erdoğan-ally Bahçeli intervened in legal proceedings seemingly to protect Anagold Mining, the company implicated in the major leachate spill near the Euphrates river at the mine in İliç, Erzincan on 13 February, that also trapped nine workers.
During a parliamentary group meeting, Bahçeli criticised the expert report that attributed the disaster to negligence. He advocated for the formation of a new expert committee, questioning the haste in preparing the initial report and suggesting a re-evaluation for more reliable judicial outcomes.
This intervention has sparked controversy, highlighting a conflict between nationalist rhetoric and actions that seem to shield multinational corporations over national environmental and human interests.