championing for common good instead of pure economic interests, the examples
quoted demonstrate that lawful monitoring and evaluating mechanisms either do
not exist or have been rendered dysfunctional.
1
Keeping this short background in mind, it is important to look at the situation of
the protection of the environment under the law to understand both the background
to these conflicts and most of the challenges faced by the people in the environmental movement and during the project. In Turkey, the right to environment is
under the protection of both the Constitution and the laws. The Constitution of the
Republic of Turkey (1982) defines the right to environment as follows:
Article 56: Everyone has the right to live in a healthy and balanced environment. It is the
duty of the State and citizens to improve the natural environment, to protect the environmental health and to prevent environmental pollution.
Based on the Constitution, Turkey has a wide range of legislation on environmental protection and environmental rights protection.
2 However, deregulation and
re-regulation practices have made these regulations useless, non-applicable or
impractical, as in the example of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive
(Çoban et al., 2015). It has undergone seventeen changes since 1993 and each
change has opened more space for environmental violations by creating exceptions
for some Environmental Impact Assessment Reports.
3
Besides these kinds of difficulties, Turkey’s legal system is very complex, lacks
practicality and is changing very rapidly (Berk, 2011). Lawyers, judges, prosecutors
and people face thousands of new legislative papers and decisions day by day.
Because many of these are complex and impractical, people are both scared of and
exhausted by the system, as their struggle and any suits brought before the courts by
them could turn into counter-struggles and counter-suits (Sol, 2016). Even if they
are courageous enough to deal with legal ways, the expertise reports which are
essential for legal cases are very costly (Artvinden, 2015).
Over and above this, a public survey in Turkey showed that 41.4% of 3,000
participants are totally unaware or ignorant of the legal system and relevant laws in
general (Berk, 2011). In such an environment, access to information, participation
and monitoring, which are the main components of a democratic society, become
more important. However, in this complex law system, those might become limited
as well. There are some data websites and law magazines which could make the
information accessible, but it is not possible to follow all of them to keep track of
these rapid changes, and it is also expensive to access all of them (Açık Ders, n.d).
1
The Dirençevre map, which was created by the Political Ecology Working Group, shows the
environmental conflicts in Turkey. It was inspired by the EJOLT project, which maps ecological
conflicts around the world; see at: http://www.ejolt.org/.
2
Available at the web page of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Laws; see at: https://
mevzuat.csb.gov.tr/#!/.
3
Amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive can be reached at: http://www.
csb.gov.tr/gm/ced/index.php?Sayfa=sayfa&Tur=webmenu&Id=254.
114
E. Türker Alpay
quoted demonstrate that lawful monitoring and evaluating mechanisms either do
not exist or have been rendered dysfunctional.
1
Keeping this short background in mind, it is important to look at the situation of
the protection of the environment under the law to understand both the background
to these conflicts and most of the challenges faced by the people in the environmental movement and during the project. In Turkey, the right to environment is
under the protection of both the Constitution and the laws. The Constitution of the
Republic of Turkey (1982) defines the right to environment as follows:
Article 56: Everyone has the right to live in a healthy and balanced environment. It is the
duty of the State and citizens to improve the natural environment, to protect the environmental health and to prevent environmental pollution.
Based on the Constitution, Turkey has a wide range of legislation on environmental protection and environmental rights protection.
2 However, deregulation and
re-regulation practices have made these regulations useless, non-applicable or
impractical, as in the example of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive
(Çoban et al., 2015). It has undergone seventeen changes since 1993 and each
change has opened more space for environmental violations by creating exceptions
for some Environmental Impact Assessment Reports.
3
Besides these kinds of difficulties, Turkey’s legal system is very complex, lacks
practicality and is changing very rapidly (Berk, 2011). Lawyers, judges, prosecutors
and people face thousands of new legislative papers and decisions day by day.
Because many of these are complex and impractical, people are both scared of and
exhausted by the system, as their struggle and any suits brought before the courts by
them could turn into counter-struggles and counter-suits (Sol, 2016). Even if they
are courageous enough to deal with legal ways, the expertise reports which are
essential for legal cases are very costly (Artvinden, 2015).
Over and above this, a public survey in Turkey showed that 41.4% of 3,000
participants are totally unaware or ignorant of the legal system and relevant laws in
general (Berk, 2011). In such an environment, access to information, participation
and monitoring, which are the main components of a democratic society, become
more important. However, in this complex law system, those might become limited
as well. There are some data websites and law magazines which could make the
information accessible, but it is not possible to follow all of them to keep track of
these rapid changes, and it is also expensive to access all of them (Açık Ders, n.d).
1
The Dirençevre map, which was created by the Political Ecology Working Group, shows the
environmental conflicts in Turkey. It was inspired by the EJOLT project, which maps ecological
conflicts around the world; see at: http://www.ejolt.org/.
2
Available at the web page of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Laws; see at: https://
mevzuat.csb.gov.tr/#!/.
3
Amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive can be reached at: http://www.
csb.gov.tr/gm/ced/index.php?Sayfa=sayfa&Tur=webmenu&Id=254.
114
E. Türker Alpay