Mount Ida (Kaz Dağları) in North-Western Turkey is near to the historical site of Troy. Currently only 2.4 km² of Mount Ida are protected by Kaz Dağı National Park. Turkish authorities have allowed the Canadian company Alamos Gold to prospect for gold in the area, which has resulted in the removal of up to 195,000 trees, four times more than the limit specified. Alamos Gold has claimed that ‘politically-motivated misinformation’ is behind the environmental protests against the project which began in July against the deforestation and the use of cyanide, which protesters claim could contaminate the nearby water supply.
Mount Ida is known in Greek mythology as ‘Mountain of the Goddess’, and both the Cretan and Anatolian Mount Ida are associated with a mother goddess predating the Greek pantheon. The Anatolian Ida is associated with the Phrygian goddess Cybele, and is mentioned in Homer’s Iliad. This cultural pedigree may provide some background to understand why the destruction of the mountain’s ecosystem has provoked so much protest.
Alamos’ Chief Executive John McCluskey has claimed that his company has already paid for the reforestation of the area, and blamed the deforestation on government authorities. "It is a very cynical thing to say”, McCluskey reportedly said, “but I believe that this whole attack is essentially just an environmental cloak that is being put over what is really a deep political agenda". Without specifying what political ends the environmental protesters hope to achieve, this statement does indeed sound not just cynical but conspiratorial.
