Cargill wants it, AKP gives it
The factory built by Cargill on prime agricultural land in Bursa is destroying nature. Environmental defenders said, “Legal victories have been won against the factory numerous times, but each time the AKP has passed laws to legalise it.” While sugar factories were shut down under AKP orders at Cargill’s behest, the company continues to multiply its profits in Turkey. The incentives, tax reductions, and major favours granted to the company during the AKP’s time in power are also noteworthy.
The American company Cargill, protected by special laws enacted by the AKP government, has unlawfully built a High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) production factory on prime agricultural land in the Orhangazi district of Bursa, causing serious damage to farmland and wetlands.
The factory, which spans 195,000 square metres and is surrounded by olive trees, is reported to extract 1 million cubic metres of groundwater annually. Environmental defenders and opposition MPs have stated, “Despite court rulings and closure orders, the government has effectively placed the factory under protection. An ecological disaster is looming. The factory must be shut down.”
The story of the American food giant Cargill in Turkey has come to prominence through the AKP government's generous favours to the company, the incentives granted despite court rulings, and its hostility towards workers. In previous years, the company had already benefited from a 70% tax reduction implemented by the government, and under the AKP rule, it rapidly expanded its operations in Turkey.
The company, which drew national attention for its unlawful actions in Bursa, first came into the spotlight in Orhangazi in 1997 when the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for agricultural industrial facilities was lifted and through subsequent legal proceedings. Despite court rulings annulling all of Cargill’s illegal operations, the case being taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and Turkey being convicted, the company’s continued operations have drawn widespread attention.
It is also claimed that the privatisation of sugar factories was carried out at Cargill’s request. Allegedly, what linked Cargill to the then Minister of Finance, Kemal Unakıtan, was the import of corn produced largely in the United States, and it was suggested that this was the reason behind the tolerance for illegalities. The facility, which continues to destroy nature and deplete water resources, including Lake İznik and its surrounding waters, has once again come under the spotlight after CHP Bursa MP Kayıhan Pala brought the issue to the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
11 ANNULMENT RULINGS
Kayıhan Pala, who brought the long-standing allegations of unlawful conduct by Cargill Tarım ve Gıda Sanayi A.Ş. to the parliamentary agenda, stated that no response has been given for two months to his ten-point written question submitted to Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Murat Kurum.
In his motion, Pala highlighted not only the environmental destruction in the region but also the broader issue of “judicial rulings being rendered ineffective” in Turkey, warning that “an ecological disaster is imminent.” Recalling that since 1998, a total of 11 annulment rulings have been issued by Bursa Administrative Courts, the 6th and 10th Chambers of the Council of State, and the European Court of Human Rights regarding the factory, Pala said, “These decisions explicitly invalidate zoning plans, building permits, and permits for non-agricultural use that violate the principle of ‘Protection of Agricultural Lands’. Yet after each annulled action, the relevant authorities pave the way for the factory’s continued operation through new ‘local zoning plans’ or ‘regulatory amendments’. If the rule of law exists in Turkey, why have finalised Council of State rulings not been enforced for 27 years? On what grounds are agricultural land and Lake İznik being handed over to a global corporation?”
THE PRIVILEGE MUST END
Emphasising the need to end the cycle of unlawfully gained privileges, Pala stated, “The factory is just a few kilometres from Lake İznik. Farmers and environmental organisations in the region report that waste from corn starch production is seeping into groundwater, damaging the soil structure and increasing the risk of algal blooms in the lake.” Recalling the 2018 ECHR ruling that found Turkey guilty of a “rights violation”, Pala said, “Despite this international condemnation, the ministries have taken no action.”
THE CASE MUST SET A PRECEDENT
Pala stressed that the Cargill case is not merely about one company, but has begun to set a precedent that could permanently disrupt the agriculture-environment-industry balance in Turkey. “If ministries maintain this attitude, tomorrow the country’s fertile farmlands will be turned into concrete fields; the threat of famine will knock on our door,” he warned. He continued: “We cannot compromise on our land or water. The law cannot be bent to save a project that has been annulled 11 times. Any official who fails to implement court rulings or protect agricultural land is responsible. The Cargill case must be a turning point where public authorities remember their duty of impartiality and serving the public good. We will follow this matter to the end; we will not take a step back for the sake of the environment and public health.”
LAW DISREGARDED
Caner Gökbayrak from the Bursa Water Collective noted that the factory is protected under a “shield of privilege,” saying, “There was one shutdown order for this facility, which has had 11 annulment rulings, and it was closed for a month. We took part in the majority of these lawsuits. We had heard that then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan held meetings during a visit to the US to save the factory, and we organised protests. Lawsuits were filed afterwards, and all were won. But then, a legislative amendment was made for factories occupying agricultural land—a kind of amnesty. And after this amnesty, the facility resumed operations.”
Gökbayrak stated that the legislation rewarded those destroying nature: “It was a move that rewarded those who occupied farmland. Afterward, the facility also increased its capacity. The company uses an enormous amount of water. At that time, the amount of water used to produce the corn syrup for this agribusiness was double the amount used by the residents of Orhangazi. With the increased capacity now, it’s likely even higher. Cargill must be shut down. It is crucial that this unlawful situation comes to an end.”
NEW PHASE IN THE LAWSUITS
Providing an update on the 28-year-long legal struggle, lawyer Erol Çiçek said that a new stage has been reached in the Cargill cases. He recalled that three of the company’s permits were annulled by Bursa Administrative Court on 25 January 2023: the Additional Starch Silo, the Marine Dryer Building, and the New Electricity Transformer Building. The appeals filed by the defendant Orhangazi Municipality and Cargill, which had intervened in support, were definitively rejected by the Bursa Regional Administrative Court on 29 November 2024.
Despite the court’s decision calling for the cancellation of the usage permits, work permits, and licences of the now legally groundless facilities, and demanding, under the Zoning Law, that the buildings be sealed and operations halted and demolished, Çiçek noted: “The ruling has still not been enforced since March 2023.”
UNDER INTENSIVE MONITORING
Çiçek pointed out that Bursa Metropolitan and Orhangazi Municipalities continue to ignore the ruling. “The Bursa Governorate is merely watching events unfold. The ECHR, in its ruling on Cargill, found the entire process to be unlawful, with court rulings not being implemented, and declared that this violates the principle of the rule of law. Following this decision, the Cargill process has come under enhanced monitoring by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. If, in the long run, Turkey is deemed to be persistently failing to implement the rulings, the matter could be brought back before the ECHR under an infringement procedure. At a time when both the world and our country are facing an intensifying climate crisis and a nationwide water crisis, our strategic groundwater resources cannot be handed over, essentially for free, to the exploitation of this multinational corporation. We once again call on the individuals and public institutions violating the Constitution and the sovereign rights of the Turkish people to act with respect for the law and human rights.”
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Cargill istiyor, AKP veriyor, published in BirGün newspaper on April 22, 2025.
