Corporate Impunity – Environmental Crisis in Anatolian’s Ida Mountain (Goose Mountain)

By: Asli Deniz. Sustainable Development Student LLM 2019-2021

Canadian mining company Alamos Gold has recently been causing environmental devastation in the forests of Anatolian Mountain Ida (Goose Mountain). The region, which is located 20km from ancient Troy and 30 km from Gallipoli has a big importance in terms of ancient and modern history. This unique region with its rich endemic flora, natural beauty, and rich mineral resources today is hosting a rural population settled in the small villages suffused the mountain. As many regions alike, it is subjected to over-exploitation of natural resources through the constructions overseen by foreign and domestic companies.

This unique region has recently been experiencing environmental destruction due to a gold and silver mining project overseen by a Turkish company called Doğu Biga, on behalf of the Canadian Company named Alamos Gold. Although the Environmental Impact Assessment Report has only approved the cut of 45,650 trees within the forest falling in the project area, the recent studies have proven that almost 200,000 trees (four times more yet, still increasing!) have been cut down. However, it is a shame that these numbers were only based on informal researches carried out by environmental organizations to find out the actual scale of the damage that is being made because the Turkish ruling party and various legal authorities are blocking the way to make investigations regarding this case. External studies also report that around 20,000 tonnes of cyanide is projected to be used during the project and 24 villages’ water sources will face extreme contamination.

‘The Goose Mountains, forests, water resources, living beings, and an entire ecosystem are being killed through a gold mining project’ – Pelin Cengiz- Turkish Columnist

Despite the fact that various civil-rights organizations have been protesting against the project and many petitions have been started by the environmental foundations to stop the mining operations, no concrete result has been achieved so far. Turkey’s main opposition party has carried a proposal to the parliament to investigate the project’s construction. However, unfortunately, the proposal was rejected by the ruling party and its allies.

What can be done?

There are numerous cases like this one from different places around the world caused by the direct power imbalance between international investors and the developing / emerging communities. In cases alike, companies accountability for human rights and environmental violations should be brought into question; if not by the domestic legislation, then by the international binding treaties.

Although there are guidelines for international businesses currently (i.e United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights), which provides instructions to multinational companies, they are insufficient to prevent the violations. In high-risk sectors such as agriculture, mining, and industry, most companies do not comply with these principles. Moreover, the economic power and the political influence transnational and multinational companies have, make the fight between them and people unequal. States themselves are often unable to protect human rights and the environment in front of the big corporations0 power. Therefore, having a legally binding international treaty may be the best option to achieve the goal of holding multinational companies accountable and consequently decreasing the vast amount of such environmental damages and human rights violations at an important level.

By: Asli Deniz. Sustainable Development Student LLM 2019-2021