Turkey signs COP26 forest pledge while continuing deforestation
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey joined more than a hundred countries on Tuesday in signing an agreement to combat deforestation at the global climate summit in Glasgow, though it continues to cut trees in Kurdish-populated areas at home and in the Kurdistan Region.
Turkey was one of 105 countries to sign onto a declaration to end deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 climate summit and agreed to strengthen shared efforts to “facilitate trade and development policies, internationally and domestically, that promote sustainable development, and sustainable commodity production and consumption, that work to countries’ mutual benefit, and that do not drive deforestation and land degradation.”
The signatories also reaffirmed their “respective commitments to sustainable land use, and to the conservation, protection, sustainable management and restoration of forests, and other terrestrial ecosystems.”
Despite Turkey’s commitment at COP26, it is accused of using deforestation as a tactic in its war with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has designated the group as a terrorist organization.
Huseyin Kacmaz is an outspoken lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), representing his hometown of Sirnak. The Kurdish politician has closely followed Turkish military activities and accuses the army of deforestation. He plans to take up the issue in the parliament.
Kacmaz told Rudaw English on Tuesday that the Turkish army has been burning forests in Kurdish areas at home and in the Kurdistan Region “deliberately” since the 1990s through its armed conflict with the PKK.
“However, they have begun cutting trees deliberately in the last two years,” he said, claiming the decision came from the Turkish leadership. Mountainous areas of Sirnak are “naked because Turkey sees them as a threat,” he added.
The PKK largely operates and has bases in rural, mountainous areas.
A local Kurdish official in Sirnak province, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Rudaw English on Tuesday that Turkey has recently ceased cutting trees in their village “because there is none left.”
“They were cutting trees last year, but now they are deforesting the surrounding areas,” said the source, adding that most of the trees are then sold.
Kacmaz noted Turkish parliament ratified the 2015 Paris climate agreement last month, but when it comes to Kurdish areas, Ankara “does not abide by agreements and its own laws.”
Turkey is also accused of deforestation across the border. Last week, Rudaw English reported that Ankara had resumed cutting down trees near Hirore village in the Kurdistan Region. Initial reports of this practice in May drew the ire of Kurds and the regional government.
Reving Hirori is a member of the Kurdistan parliament. He has spoken out against the deforestation in his village, Hirore, and raised the issue with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Turkish consulate general in Erbil.
He welcomed Turkey’s decision to sign the Glasgow deal and said he hopes to see it implemented. “We hope that Turkey will abide by the agreement and preserve the environment,” he told Rudaw English on Tuesday.
The Kurdistan Region’s forests are also damaged by fires sparked from the conflict. The Forest Police and Environment Directorate told Rudaw last May that more than 4,000 dunams of land and green spaces had been burned by Turkish bombardments in Duhok province since January.
Peter Schwartzstein is an independent environmental journalist and non-resident fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. He told Rudaw English on Tuesday that many countries “struggle to reconcile their environmental rhetoric with their environmental realities, and in this respect Turkey is no different.”
“This kind of disconnect is often particularly acute when military action is involved because environmental protection will always come a very distant priority to the successful pursuit of strategic goals. But what can feel especially troubling about Turkey's campaign against the PKK is that the environmental damage can seem like precisely the point. By torching huge chunks of its own woodland and Iraqi Kurdistan's to deny cover to the group, the Turkish state is leaving a truly outsized scar on the regional landscape,” he said.
“Signing pledges is easy,” Richard Pearshouse, head of Crisis and Environment at Amnesty International, told Rudaw English on Tuesday. “The key is implementation.”
The Turkish defense ministry said in late May that it shows “maximum sensitivity and attention” to civilians, the environment, and historical and cultural sites in their operations.
Turkey is seeing the devastating effects of climate change. Water shortages have caused drought-like conditions and devastating wildfires raged in several locations this summer. Some in Turkey blamed the fires on the PKK, which denied any involvement.
Turkey was one of 105 countries to sign onto a declaration to end deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 climate summit and agreed to strengthen shared efforts to “facilitate trade and development policies, internationally and domestically, that promote sustainable development, and sustainable commodity production and consumption, that work to countries’ mutual benefit, and that do not drive deforestation and land degradation.”
The signatories also reaffirmed their “respective commitments to sustainable land use, and to the conservation, protection, sustainable management and restoration of forests, and other terrestrial ecosystems.”
Despite Turkey’s commitment at COP26, it is accused of using deforestation as a tactic in its war with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has designated the group as a terrorist organization.
Huseyin Kacmaz is an outspoken lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), representing his hometown of Sirnak. The Kurdish politician has closely followed Turkish military activities and accuses the army of deforestation. He plans to take up the issue in the parliament.
Kacmaz told Rudaw English on Tuesday that the Turkish army has been burning forests in Kurdish areas at home and in the Kurdistan Region “deliberately” since the 1990s through its armed conflict with the PKK.
“However, they have begun cutting trees deliberately in the last two years,” he said, claiming the decision came from the Turkish leadership. Mountainous areas of Sirnak are “naked because Turkey sees them as a threat,” he added.
The PKK largely operates and has bases in rural, mountainous areas.
A local Kurdish official in Sirnak province, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Rudaw English on Tuesday that Turkey has recently ceased cutting trees in their village “because there is none left.”
“They were cutting trees last year, but now they are deforesting the surrounding areas,” said the source, adding that most of the trees are then sold.
Kacmaz noted Turkish parliament ratified the 2015 Paris climate agreement last month, but when it comes to Kurdish areas, Ankara “does not abide by agreements and its own laws.”
Turkey is also accused of deforestation across the border. Last week, Rudaw English reported that Ankara had resumed cutting down trees near Hirore village in the Kurdistan Region. Initial reports of this practice in May drew the ire of Kurds and the regional government.
Reving Hirori is a member of the Kurdistan parliament. He has spoken out against the deforestation in his village, Hirore, and raised the issue with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Turkish consulate general in Erbil.
He welcomed Turkey’s decision to sign the Glasgow deal and said he hopes to see it implemented. “We hope that Turkey will abide by the agreement and preserve the environment,” he told Rudaw English on Tuesday.
The Kurdistan Region’s forests are also damaged by fires sparked from the conflict. The Forest Police and Environment Directorate told Rudaw last May that more than 4,000 dunams of land and green spaces had been burned by Turkish bombardments in Duhok province since January.
Peter Schwartzstein is an independent environmental journalist and non-resident fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. He told Rudaw English on Tuesday that many countries “struggle to reconcile their environmental rhetoric with their environmental realities, and in this respect Turkey is no different.”
“This kind of disconnect is often particularly acute when military action is involved because environmental protection will always come a very distant priority to the successful pursuit of strategic goals. But what can feel especially troubling about Turkey's campaign against the PKK is that the environmental damage can seem like precisely the point. By torching huge chunks of its own woodland and Iraqi Kurdistan's to deny cover to the group, the Turkish state is leaving a truly outsized scar on the regional landscape,” he said.
“Signing pledges is easy,” Richard Pearshouse, head of Crisis and Environment at Amnesty International, told Rudaw English on Tuesday. “The key is implementation.”
The Turkish defense ministry said in late May that it shows “maximum sensitivity and attention” to civilians, the environment, and historical and cultural sites in their operations.
Turkey is seeing the devastating effects of climate change. Water shortages have caused drought-like conditions and devastating wildfires raged in several locations this summer. Some in Turkey blamed the fires on the PKK, which denied any involvement.