TR

The forests of Akbelen would not have to be cut down! Do you know why? Because, the coal-burning power plants in Muğla should have already been closed in 1996!

We have lost many people since then, as the court decisons were not enforced.

We now demand that the high court decision of 1996 to be enforced  and the Yeniköy, Kemerköy, and Yatağan power plants in Muğla province should be shut down !

What happened ?

• The courts decided to close the Yeniköy, Kemerköy and Yatağan thermal power plants in Muğla province in 1996.
• Those court orders have been approved by the Council of State.
• The court orders have not been enforced and the power plants have not been shut down.
• Thus the plaintiffs applied to the European Court of Human Rights.
• ECHR has approved the decision of shutting down the power plants in 2005.
• The resolution of the ECHR has not been enforced either.

What would happen if the court decisions had been enforced?

If the Republic of Turkey enforced the court orders;

• Those coal_powered plants would not be operational,
• Akbelen Forest, villages, olive groves, farmlands would not have been destroyed in order to exploit the coal.
• More than 68.000 people would not have died before their time, and people in excess of tens of thousands of people in the region wouldn’t be suffering from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
• Villagers of Milas and Yatağan would not have been exiled from their fertile lands, and they would have been able to continue cultivating and living-off their own land.

Unfortunately, the people of the region are dying early, their agricultural lands and villages are being swallowed by the huge "hellhole" created by the coal mines as Republic of Turkey still insists on disregarding the court’s decisions.

While people of Muğla are facing this nightmare, the rest of the world is struggling with the climate crisis. It is a well known fact that the fossil fuel consuming coal-burning power plants play a leading role in the climate crisis. It is well known that the fossil fuel consuming coal-burning power plants play a leading role in the climate crisis.  Turkey has signed the Paris Climate Agreement and committed to closing the coal-burning plants. However, the government of Turkey avoids taking action in this direction, disregarding court decisions and international agreements and insisting on acting unlawfully.

What are we requesting?

We request the rule of “constitutional state” to be put into force!

We, as the people of Ikizkoy, Milas, Yatağan, Muğla, Turkish Republic and  of the earth, ask the Republic of Turkey the following questions;

• Since it is written in the constitution that Turkey is a “constitutional state” is the Republic of Turkey going to keep on acting unlawfully, contrary to her Constitution?
• Can unlawfullness be a rule in a democratic country?
• When will you close the unlawfully running coal-powered power plants in Muğla ?

We, in the name of the people of the region and the rest of the humanity,  demand that a satisfactory answer to these questions be given and the implementation of the rule  of law principles, 

• that action be taken parallel to the court orders to shut down the three coal-powered power plants in Muğla province,
• to revoke the mining licenses given in the region for coal mining,
• a just transition should be followed during closure, so that no employee or their dependants of those coal-powered power plants should be in a vulnerable state, socially or financially after these actions,
• the Council of the European Union to closely follow the case, to warn the Turkish Government to no longer delay to enforce the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.

We, as citizens of Republic of Turkey, are aware that if the rules of the Constitution are not followed, none of our democratic rights are secure. Therefore our demands at the same time should be read as a call to return to the rule of “constitutional state” as written in the Constitution of Turkish Republic. We are insistently demanding the constitutional state rules to be put into force because we consider the public welfare, health of human beings and health of the earth is much more valuable than the interests of a privileged few.

The NGO's calling for the petition:
Muğla Çevre Platformu
İkizköy Çevre Komitesi
İklim Adaleti Koalisyonu
Ekoloji Birliği