Legal Setbacks for Ovacik Activists

Legal Setbacks for Ovacik Activists

Mining Monitor - Volume 6 Number 2 July 2001

Villagers opposing the operation of Normandy Minings Ovacik gold mine in Turkey suffered a legal setback when an appeal court overturned an earlier decision by the Izmir Administrative Court rejecting approval for the use of cyanide by the mine. The court decision came on top of a leading mine opponent being sentenced to a nineteen month gaol sentence.

The proposed gold mine has encountered strong opposition over the last decade, which culminated in the 1997 Supreme court ruling that inadequate precautions to protect public health had been taken specifically in relation to the use of cyanide in the processing plant. Ever since, Normandy has been lobbying the Turkish Government to allow the plant to
proceed, including enlisting the support from Australian government ministers.

Early last year Normandy wrote to the Australian Environment Minister, Senator Robert Hill, the Science and Industry Minister, Senator Nick Minchin, Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, and Prime Minister John Howard requesting their support in lobbying their Turkish counterparts to support the mine. Normandy's Public Affairs Manager, Dr
Chris Anderson, told MM that the letters were "basically saying 'we are Australia's largest investor in Turkey, we wondered if you would be willing to write to your counterpart to vouch for our reputation in Australia'".

"We didn't ask them to interfere in any way, shape or form . all we did is say 'vouch that Normandy is a big Australian company that operates safely and properly in Australia, and really just a referee report I suppose", Anderson told MM. Anderson insists the point was not lobbying but simply informing the Turkish Ministers. "We didn't ask them to intervene. The Turks wouldn't accept any kind of heavying from outside politicians anyway", he said.

Hill, Minchin and Downer ­ all representatives of the Liberal Party hailing from Normandy's home state of South Australia ­ agreed. Hill wrote to the Turkish Minister for the Environment, Mr Fevzi Aytekin, praising Normandy for being a signatory to the Minerals Council of Australia's Code of Environmental Management, having a corporate
environment policy and employing an environmental management system.1

Minchin was more direct in appealing to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Cumhur Ersumer, that the government issue permits to allow the mine to re-start after a court order prevented the plant from operating. Normandy, he wrote "is actively working with your government to reinstate the operating permits for the gold mine at Ovacik . I would seek your support for the issuance of these permits at the earliest convenience".2 Downer too requested that his counterpart, Mr Ismail Cem, lend his "assistance to ensure that the permits for Eurogold are issued as quickly as possible".3 For his part Howard broached the subject of the mine when he met with the Turkish Prime Minister at the ANZAC Day service at Gallipoli last year. Following the lobbying campaign, the Turkish Prime Minister
directed government officials to allow the mine to proceed.

In late May the leader of villagers, Oktay Konyar, was sentenced to nineteen months jail under draconian laws drafted by the military following the 1980 coup restricting the right to protest. Anderson insists the latest charges Konyar faced were "for membership of an
illegal political party of which Turkey has quite a few" and were totally unrelated to his campaigning against the mine. Leading local activist, Birsil Lemke, told MM the charges were for organising protests against the mine without permission. "It is not true that Oktay Konyar is member of an illegal party ... [he] is a member of the oldest Turkish party (CHP) - Social Democrat ­ founded by Mustafa Kemal Attaturk ­ the 'founder' of Turkey", she said.

1 Senator Robert Hill, letter to Mr Fevzi Aytekin (Minister for the
Environment, Republic of Turkey), 21 February 2000.
2 Senator Nick Minchin, letter to Mr Cumhur Ersumer (Deputy Prime
Minister,Republic of Turkey), 21 January 2000.
3 Alexander Downer, letter to Mr Ismail Cem (Foreign Minister Republic
of Turkey), 17 February 2000.

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