By Heidi Trautmann

On the occasion of the International Environment Day on June 05, 2021, I was invited by representatives of ÇADER  (Çatalköy Development and Culture Organisation) to be present in the Lefke area at the local protest action,  and with Martin Marancos and Sevilay Ramadan we enjoyed a lovely car ride to Gemikonaği where we met with the representatives of other Environmental Associations. The Lefke area is very dear to me for its special atmosphere of rich nature and for the encounters and talks I had with artists, writers, and others.

We all met at the CMC Mine in Gemikonaği (Karravostasi), enclosed with high fencing all around 2000 acres of land where ten million tons of mine waste belonging to CMC company is dumped. In addition, there are approximately two million tons of mine waste also in other places in Gemikonağı and Lefke.

Every year, environmental associations get together to protest against the pollution of the area through the dangerous waste and to remind the governments in the North and in the South to find a solution for this problem endangering the health of man, nature, the economy in general and tourism.

I talked to some people from various organizations and received some information but I am afraid that it is not done and covered with just one article as the situation has a long history.

The so far gathered information I can share here.

“This annual protest action organized by the Environmental Society of Lefke was supported by the Xeros-Karavostasi Development Society, the Lefke Tourism Society, by ÇADER, the Çatalköy Development and Culture Organisation and by CESF, the Cyprus Environmental Stakeholders Forum.

Whilst all the other organisations are rooted locally, the CESF is a bi-communal platform, registered in Brussels, founded to combat the island’s environmental problems together with both the Cypriot communities. We were pleased to show our support for this very important issue of mining pollution, both from past facilities and existing facilities.”

Furthermore, I was given some details with regard to the background of the organising association, which was founded in 1995.  Ahmet Hizli sent a translation and Martin Marancos from ÇADER edited the text.

“The Environmental Society of Lefke was founded in 1995.

The purpose of the establishment of our association is the environmental pollution in the Lefke region, especially the damage caused by the CMC mine waste. Until today, we have conducted several successful actions, these include the prevention of a Fuel Storage Facility in the area, collecting waste oil for recycling, stopping the dumping of this used oil into the land fill above the village of Lefke. Further, we have been able to prevent planned heavy metal mining and other mining activities.

Our association organizes various activities and acts to solve the environmental problems not only in Northern Cyprus but also in Southern Cyprus. We especially attach importance to bi-communal environmental activities and organize informative seminars on joint actions with environmental associations in Southern Cyprus. Our work is also followed and supported by the European Union.”

In front of the gate to the mine waste dump area, the groups and association gathered with their banners and the representatives were interviewed by BRT 1, a local radio and TV station, in order to make their protest public and bring it to the attention of the public. 

The groups then moved to the Apliç (Apliki) crossing to draw the public attention – again recorded by BRT 1 - to the current mining operations there, just over the border in the Southern part, affecting both communities.  For reasons of the Pandemic, the friends of the cause from the South could not participate in this year’s activity.

Apparently, there is one deal in the air between the Government and the still active Mines in the South to sell the 10 million tons waste from Gemikonaği to them to be ‘purified’, i.e. the residue of 0.01 – 0.02 % of copper content would be extracted, and the rest of the waste, approx. 95% would be returned to Gemikonaği. Just to imagine the moving of 10 million tons, the air pollution…. The Environmental Society of Lefke together with all other associations are against this deal … and in my eyes, it is against all reason and common sense. 

The dangerous waste situation has been researched and illuminated from many scientists, journalists, writers and environmentalists, but also by a well known artist in Cyprus, Inci Kansu, whom I had the pleasure to interview for my artbook  “Art and Creativity in North Cyprus, Volume I” where she told me about her project ‘CUPRUM’, a project which took her eight years of research in situ and which she realized as an art installation of a stunning and impressive beauty and value, a warning monument for her country.

I sincerely hope that the associations’ warnings and protests will carry fruit and that they will find the proper solution for this decades long sad environment story.