In a written statement, the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) Amed Ecology Assembly condemned the destruction in the Cudi and Gabar Mountains of Şirnak (Şirnex). The statement said that expanding mining and oil drilling operations in the Cudi and Gabar mountains are contributing to escalating environmental degradation. The daily use of explosives for these activities is flattening mountaintops, destroying ecosystems, and threatening endangered species.

Large quantities of dynamite are used each day, resulting in significant damage to both land and water sources. Explosions have polluted underground water reserves, felled trees, and endangered local wildlife, particularly wild goats that rely on these mountains as a habitat.

‘We will follow the ecocide’

The statement said that it was no coincidence that these regions, which have been depopulated and are often declared “Special Security Zone” since the 1990s, were subjected to ecocide, added: “The ecocide Qileban, Elkê and other regions and the deforestation of Kurdistan are narrowing down the living spaces of the Kurdish people and the living beings in the nature of Kurdistan. We will closely follow the process against this ecocide taking place in Kurdistan, where there is an intervention in the right to access clean air and clean drinking water, and to live in a healthy and balanced environment.”