Why are forests in Turkey so easily destroyed?

In an environment where everything is going in the right direction, if something goes wrong, this inevitably catches one's eye immediately and one corrects it or makes an effort to correct it. But in an environment where almost everything goes wrong, if something goes wrong, it is inevitably not corrected, it remains so. To this, it is necessary to add the phrase "Eyyam-ı Bahur", which has recently become a phrase in our language.

This is one of the words and phrases of Arabic origin that haunt our language. In other words, this guest integrated word, which settled in our language long before Arab refugees or asylum seekers, continues to be used. I think that the sweltering heat in recent days should be the main reason for the revitalisation of this word. 

The term "Eyyam-ı Bahur" is used to describe the extremely hot days in the summer months, at the end of summer. I had heard this term from my elders in my childhood. As it was in my childhood, we are currently experiencing an August month in which the heat is so intense that people faint even in the shade. I wish patience and endurance to our farmers who are busy cultivating their land, to road workers who work under the sun, to those who add their sweat to their bread in bakeries, in short, to all labourers so that they can work in this heat.

In these days of spring, like our people who have to work under the sun, our forests are also trying to endure and resist. Akbelen forest is one of them. Our people, who are arm in arm with Akbelen, who keep watch for Akbalen, who are the voice and breath of Akbelen, are also struggling, they have been trying to protect Akbelen for days under the heat. I wish strength to those beautiful villagers in Akbelen who have been resisting for days to prevent the destruction of the forest, the trees in the forest, insects, wolves, birds, all living and breathing creatures, and natural life. These people are in a hurry to protect Akbelen, taking on not only the insatiable bosses of a company, but also the law enforcement forces of the state.

Even the gendarmerie of the state had to think about 'right and wrong' when they saw these people. They made the sky above Akbelen groan with their cries as the bulldozers felled the trees they had planted with their hands, watered and grown, hugged and embraced like their children. The harsh intervention of the gendarmerie and the spraying of water cannons by TOMA vehicles was undoubtedly not difficult for the local people who love trees, want to protect greenery and defend their rights. Why should it have been difficult? Because they know very well that they are doing the right thing, that they are fighting for the right. Is this humanity? 

Russian writer Anton Chekhov said: "There is a demon of destruction and annihilation in all of you. You pity neither the forests, nor the birds, nor the women, nor each other." That is exactly what is happening during the Akbelen resistance. As the author of these lines, I stand by the silent resistance in Akbelen until the end. This mistake must be reversed. The state and the government should not allow this mistake. It should be on the side of the people and not stand by and watch Akbelen being slaughtered. Will our state bureaucracy do this? I don't think so. What about politics? Our policy towards forests is already wrong. If this policy was right, Akbelen would be able to continue to stand upright. 

There is probably not one of us who has not read or heard the famous proverb of the Indians: "When the last river runs dry, the last tree dies, the last fish is caught, the white man will realise that money is inedible!" I guess we will not wait until the last tree is cut down and the forests are destroyed before Turkish people realise the value of trees and forests. The silent defenders of Akbelen stood up even before the trees were cut down and the forest was destroyed. Because they felt and realised that something bad was going to happen. 

Again, in this sense, Karl Marx's quote strikes me as very striking and true: "Capitalism cuts down the tree whose shade it cannot sell!" Indeed, the rent appetite of modern times has turned the value judgements of our people upside down all over the world, especially in our country. Nothing is as beautiful, instructive and educational as it used to be. We are passing through a time when the consciences of the miner who has set his mind on destroying Akbelen and the forests, as well as the politicians and bureaucrats of the state, have darkened more than the coal to be extracted from under this forest. 

Don't these people know how many years it takes for a tree to grow and flourish, and how it grows with what labour? Do they not see the state of burnt forests? Why do these people, who talk about ancestors and being the grandson of Fatih, ignore Fatih's words "I will cut off the head of the one who cuts a branch from my forests"? State officials, who are supposed to protect forests, do not fail to show that they have a so-called 'understanding of duty' that is insensitive to forests and trees to the extent that they almost cut off the heads of people who resist those who cut down forests.

Mustafa Kemal, the true grandson of the Conqueror, the founder of this country, had a branch of the plane tree in the garden of his summer mansion in Yalova cut down, so he had rails put on the foundation of the mansion, so that the mansion could be relocated and the tree would not be damaged. While doing this, he did not neglect to lecture the gardener of the mansion who was in favour of cutting the tree: "Have you ever grown such a tree in your life? What right do you have to cut down such a tree?"

No one is telling you that coal mines should not be opened, that the power plant to be operated with the coal to be extracted should not operate, that electricity should not be produced. It is demanded to reach the coal layers in a way without damaging the Akbelen Forest? On the other hand, I ask you. Isn't it time to give up coal? Don't you feel obliged to switch more rapidly to environmentally friendly sources of electricity generation? How dare we massacre forests knowing the damages caused by thermal power plants to the environment and human health?

Nature's revenge is terrible when the day comes. Earthquakes, fires, droughts, droughts, global warming, floods, deluges, nature has the power to terrorise us all. Every tree we cut down is an invitation to one and perhaps all of these natural disasters. Where there are forests, there are no floods, droughts, global warming cannot be effective. If there are no forests, there will be more natural disasters. Even though we know this, how can we find the right to slaughter our forests in unnatural ways?

Enough of tormenting each other. It is not possible with sycophantic politicians who have adopted sycophantic politics as their style. In our country, we have a political world that cannot even defend our forests. The parties are boiling like a witch cauldron. The heat has hit their heads, it is seen very clearly from the outside. It does not escape anyone's eyes that the opposition, which calls itself an alliance, is acting in alliance to break the table. Change, transformation or renewal? No one knows what will happen. The cards are supposedly being reshuffled in political circles. The heat has also raised the political tension to the ceiling. It's time for them to make a decision and stand up for what is right against what is going wrong in the country. You failed to defend Akbelen, can't you at least take steps to prevent new Akbelen massacres in the future?

With respectful love