Turkey’s PM comments on dispute over olive trees: ‘What’s more important, olives or facilities?’
Turkey’s PM Binali Yıldırım talked at his party AKP’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday (June 6).
Yıldırım gave statements on Raqqa operation, Qatar crisis, Turkey’s economy, ongoing trials of coup plot suspects, as well as, ongoing dispute over AKP’s draft ‘reform’ bill that is criticized by the opposition as a step to ‘destroy olive production’ in the country.
When talking about their proposal, Yıldırım said: “Before even this proposal (production reform bill) was debated in the Parliament, the opposition tried taking advantage of it. So, what do they say? They say that ‘olive tree gardens will be destroyed’ (with this bill). I want to tell the truth… There were 100 million olive trees. Throughout AKP governments, this number increased to 172 million: a 72% increase. Who made Turkey the top second olive producer in the world? AK Party government did!”
Trying to put the blame on previous governments for ‘wrong practices regarding industrial development’ near olive tree gardens, PM Yıldırım said the current bill is an attempt to correct such mistakes. With the new bill, industrial facilities will not be allowed to be built in areas less than 3 km far from olive tree areas, said Yıldırım.
However, in areas that are further than 3 km, it willl be possible to construct such facilities.
Yıldırım added: “So, how will this work? There will be a board consisting of 11 members. The board will come to the site and if the members see that a facility will be to the benefit of the public, then, it will be possible. What is more important: olives or facilities? Our concern is about creating solutions for this country’s problems. So, we are going to talk to our citizens about everything… If our citizens do not want something, of course, we won’t do it with force.”
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/basbakan-yildirim-zeytin-mi-daha-onemli-tesis-mi-163075.html