Ecocide in Cudi and Gabar: Habitats of gazelles and wild goats deliberately destroyed

Large-scale deforestation has severely damaged the Gabar, Cudi and Besta mountains in the Kurdish-majority province of Şırnak (Şirnex) in southeast Turkey over the past seven years, with trees cleared for military outposts (kalekols), oil exploration and related infrastructure under the cover of security operations, Medine Mamedoğlu, of Yeni Özgür Politika reported on Thursday.

The areas, declared military zones since the 1990s, remain closed to civilians, allowing extensive environmental degradation to go largely unmonitored, according to local residents and environmental observers. Under military and village guard supervision, 40 to 50 truck loads of trees are cut down in these areas every day. Over the last seven years, an estimated 15% of forestry in the region has been destroyed.

The scale of the destruction since 2018 is visible from the air:

This ongoing ecocide has had devastating consequences for local wildlife. Gazelles and wild goats – species already under threat – are rapidly losing their habitats. Images of animals roaming across barren slopes, with tree removal leaving land vulnerable to soil erosion, offers visual evidence of the damage caused by state-backed environmental policies.

The destruction is also affecting human life. Dozens of villages – such as Zivinga Hecî Elî, Xurs, Hirareş, Basret, Miştexan and many others located along the slopes of Mount Gabar and Mount Cudi – have been declared “special security zones” for over 30 years. Locals are only allowed to access their ancestral lands through permits granted by the governor’s office.

Residents say these policies represent not only an attack on nature but also a violation of their right to life, land, and livelihood. With natural tree cover gone, the desertification has seen rising temperatures in the region and drilling activities use up or contaminate ancient springs. As a result traditional livestock farming in the area is threatened, leaving many families in hardship.

What began as security measures has now shifted into profit-driven exploitation of local resources, the local residents allege. Serious questions remain about who benefits from the commercial sale of timber and how this trade is managed, with the lack of transparency fuelling growing public concern.

Campaigns continue for the destruction of the Gabar and Cudi mountain ecosystems to come to an immediate halt. The ongoing environmental and social devastation, carried out under the cover of militarisation, is causing irreversible harm, both to the natural world and the communities who depend on it.

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