Chapter 1
Introduction
Zerrin Savaşan
Turkey has become party to a range of environmental agreements at both global and
regional levels. With a view to contributing to efforts to address environmental
problems, its interest in environmental issues goes back to the 1960s, and it recognizes the ‘protection of environment’ as a long-term policy with its Third Five
Year Development Plan (1973–1977). The progress on environmental matters
continued during the establishment of the Ministry of Environment in 1991. In
1995, the process of preparing the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP)
began under the coordination of the State Planning Organization, the Ministry of
Environment and the World Bank. This process has involved different study groups
on different key themes of Turkish environmental policies, each including several
experts from universities, ministries, research organizations, NGOs and the private
sector. As a result, the NEAP was adopted in 1998, and a number of institutional
and legislative environmental reforms have been put in place. In 2001, Turkey’s
Local Agenda 21 Program was selected as a world-wide best practice by the UNDP,
and with its Sustainable Development Report (2012), it undertakes to further
enhance the programmes applied in the last ten years to contribute towards
accomplishing the sustainable development goals.
In its development on environmental issues, the EU accession process also plays
an important role, and this can be easily understood by on-going negotiations with
the EU on a range of environmental issues under the Chapter on Environment and
Climate Change. Even if attaining EU accession country status has accelerated the
development of various aspects of Turkish Environmental Law (TEL), since 2005
the EU-Turkey relations in general have been characterized by stagnation. So,
unfortunately, the last decade and a half or so – from 2005 to date – does not
represent a period of continuous progress in the development of environmental law,
management and protection. Even though, through learning and persuasion processes, the EU-style of policy-making is still partly implemented in practice, its
Dr. Zerrin Savaşan, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Sub-department
of International Law, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey. e-mail: szerrin@selcuk.edu.tr.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Z. Savaşan and V. Sümer (eds.), Environmental Law and Policies in Turkey,
The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science 31,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36483-0_1
1
Introduction
Zerrin Savaşan
Turkey has become party to a range of environmental agreements at both global and
regional levels. With a view to contributing to efforts to address environmental
problems, its interest in environmental issues goes back to the 1960s, and it recognizes the ‘protection of environment’ as a long-term policy with its Third Five
Year Development Plan (1973–1977). The progress on environmental matters
continued during the establishment of the Ministry of Environment in 1991. In
1995, the process of preparing the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP)
began under the coordination of the State Planning Organization, the Ministry of
Environment and the World Bank. This process has involved different study groups
on different key themes of Turkish environmental policies, each including several
experts from universities, ministries, research organizations, NGOs and the private
sector. As a result, the NEAP was adopted in 1998, and a number of institutional
and legislative environmental reforms have been put in place. In 2001, Turkey’s
Local Agenda 21 Program was selected as a world-wide best practice by the UNDP,
and with its Sustainable Development Report (2012), it undertakes to further
enhance the programmes applied in the last ten years to contribute towards
accomplishing the sustainable development goals.
In its development on environmental issues, the EU accession process also plays
an important role, and this can be easily understood by on-going negotiations with
the EU on a range of environmental issues under the Chapter on Environment and
Climate Change. Even if attaining EU accession country status has accelerated the
development of various aspects of Turkish Environmental Law (TEL), since 2005
the EU-Turkey relations in general have been characterized by stagnation. So,
unfortunately, the last decade and a half or so – from 2005 to date – does not
represent a period of continuous progress in the development of environmental law,
management and protection. Even though, through learning and persuasion processes, the EU-style of policy-making is still partly implemented in practice, its
Dr. Zerrin Savaşan, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Sub-department
of International Law, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey. e-mail: szerrin@selcuk.edu.tr.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Z. Savaşan and V. Sümer (eds.), Environmental Law and Policies in Turkey,
The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science 31,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36483-0_1
1