Attacks against protesters with police tear gas,Artvin Cerattepe and Genya mine, February 2016.EJAtlas. All rights reserved.Environmental rights are now widely recognized by many constitutions throughout the world. The 1982 constitution of Turkey also recognizes a right to health and a balanced environment (article 56). Nevertheless, the application of this right on the ground has not been free of contestation, particularly when big projects with opportunities for vast profit are at stake. In fact, the application of environmental rights is becoming one of the most incendiary battlegrounds of the twenty first century, where the rules of capitalism are most urgently on course to be modified.
Currently, the Artvin-Cerattepe mine case, the biggest environmental legal case in Turkey, constitutes one of these battlefields, where the lives and livelihoods of many are being put in danger by copper and gold mine prospecting in the region. During the final hearing of the case on September 19, the litigant lawyers demanded recusal and abandoned the court-room amid extensive security precautions.
“We are under immense pressure,” claimed the legal representative in the case of Bedrettin Kalin. The movement against the controversial mine construction has been going on for more than twenty years now. Despite several court decisions ordering the abandonment of the mine project based on the right to a healthy, balanced environment, the company was able to obtain new environmental impact assessment reports (EIA) and reclaim the project.
