AKP's new bill opens way for destruction of olive trees in Turkey

A bill in Turkey that is deemed as a step to ‘end olive cultivation’ in the country had been withdrawn from parliament floor 6 times before due to major reactions both from the opposition and the public.

It was brought to parliament floor once again on Tuesday (May 23) as part of the Production Reform Package designed and proposed by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.

Current law prohibits construction and operation of facilities that would harm olive cultivation – such as thermal plants - in areas less than 3 kilometers away from the olive gardens. With the most recent so-called reform bill, the Ministry is aiming to lift the ‘3 kilometers rule.’ According to the suggested change in the relevant law, though the ban will remain in text, an addition will be made to the article giving authority to ministry of food and agriculture, which will also be allowed to hand over this authority to the governor’s office of the province at stake. With the new addition, the decision to apply the 3 kilometer rule will be left up to the ministry and the governors, who can easily break the rule if they think that ‘no alternative sites in the area can be designated for construction of industrial facilities.’

Back in 2014, around 6000 olive trees were cut down in Aegean town of Yırca by pro-government firm Kolin to open up space to construct a thermal plant. Though the Council of State (Danıştay) had stepped up and froze Kolin’s project, destruction had already taken place and hectares of land were cleared of olive trees overnight despite ongoing protests of villagers and activists.

With the proposed change, areas that do not have a minimum of 15 olive trees per hectare will not be considered as an ‘olive garden.’

Olive cultivation, especially in the Aegean coast of the country, is not only a major source of income for many families and a significant trade source for the country, it is also historically symbolic of the region’s culture.

Commenting on the insistance of the AKP government to pass regulations that would open the way for destruction of olive trees in massive numbers, Secretary General of Confederation of Farmers’s Union of Turkey (Çiftçi Sen), Ali Bülent Erdem, gave a reminder of what had happened Yırca and said they will ‘continue their fight against the proposed new law’.

Mentioning that ‘allowing usage of coasts, meadows and olive gardens for industrial activities’ has nothing to do with an ‘industrial reform’, main opposition party CHP’s spokesperson for the Committee on Natural Resources, Science, and Technology, Kazım Arslan said: “Those who have lost their minds over ‘construction sector’ are mixing up industrial facilities with agricultural products and the fertility of the land with the rent earned from constructions.”

Arslan called on the relevant articles to be removed from the package.

Front-page article of BirGün on 23 May 2017, Tuesday

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/zeytin-talana-aciliyor-160789.html