Human Rights and the Environment

Case Study: Gold Extraction

Country: Turkey

Region: Europe

Issues: Toxics, Resource Extraction, Litigation, Public Participation

In 1999, we reported that the people of Bergama, Turkey, had decided that they prefer their health and the health of their environment to the promised riches of gold-extraction. In 1989, Eurogold, a multinational mining company, moved into this agricultural region near the Aegean coast and began making arrangements to extract 24 tons of gold through a cyanide heap leaching process. Fearing the potential pollution of their water and soil, local residents overwhelmingly opposed the mining and took actions to prevent Eurogold's projected eight-year mining plan from becoming a reality. In 1997, 10,000 residents and supporters from across Turkey occupied the mine site, convincing authorities to suspend Eurogold's activities for 30 days. Before the moratorium had expired, Turkey's highest court ruled on a case brought by several hundred residents and overturned the Ministry of Environment's decision to permit the mining project. The court based its judgment on the grounds that the threat posed by Eurogold's cyanide-based technology violated the people's constitutionally protected right to a healthy and intact environment and to their own physical integrity. However, the government subsequently reissued the revoked permit. In a positive turn of events, on March 6, 2002, the Izmir Third Administrative Court ordered the gold mine in Bergama closed immediately.[1]

Shortly after the decision was issued in 2002, a family whose livelihoods depend on the mining operations attacked and murdered 35 year-old Turan Kilinc in his home. Turan Kilinc had been active during the ten years of resistance against the mine, protesting in solidarity with fellow community members through creative and determined acts of civil disobedience. Residents of Bergama and the 17 neighboring villages are concerned that the mine is destroying not only their lands but also their communities.[2]

[1] See Mines and Communities, Press Release - Izmir Third Administrative Court Decides the Bergama Mine Should Close, at http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press30.htm (last visited Mar. 9, 2004).

[2] See Ustun B. Reinart, Newmont-owned illegal goldmine provokes murder, at http://important.as/environment (last visited Mar. 9, 2004).

Last Updated: 09/09/05