Environmentalists react to tree cutting in Kaz Mountains

Cengiz Holding’s Truva Bakır Company has started cutting down trees in the area of the Halilağa Copper Mine located in the village of Hacıbekirler, in the Bayramiç district of Çanakkale. Environmentalists claim that 1 million trees will be cut down and nature will be devastated, and they organized a protest in the mining area. The group shouted slogans like “Killer Cengiz, Get Out of Kaz Dağları!”

The group, which claims that 1 million trees will be cut down for the Halilağa Copper Mine project of Cengiz Holding’s Truva Bakır Company in the village of Hacıbekirler, gathered in the mining area. Environmentalists, who demand the cancellation of the project and that no trees be cut down, argued that nature would be destroyed in the region, agriculture and livestock would cease, and water resources would disappear. The environmentalists chanted, “Killer Cengiz, Get Out of Kaz Dağları!” The group, which demanded that construction machinery withdraw from the area, went to the cutting site and continued their protests there. Çanakkale Provincial Gendarmerie Command teams took extensive security measures in the mining area. The gendarmerie occasionally warned the crowd with announcements.

Aytaç Yakar, who stated that he came to support from Akbelen to Kaz Dağları, said, “They have committed the massacre they did to us in 2023 here as well. Why are they cutting down what my Lord has given us? Why are they destroying our nature? Why are they destroying our living space? Isn’t it a shame for this country? I have no dollars, no money, I only have my nature. I have my water, my air, and my nature. If I have my water, air, and nature, if I have my land, there is no one happier than me. They should not touch our land, air, and water. They should go away, let them leave. Everything, our nature has been destroyed.”