Landmark victory for ecologists as court aborts fourth energy project in eastern Turkish valley

An administrative court has canceled a project to build three hydroelectric plant and a dam project in one of the most important natural habitats in eastern Turkey in a ruling that could set a landmark precedent for future environmental activism.

Locals of Tunceli (Dersim) have long protested that the dams and reservoirs planned in the Munzur Valley and national park would not only damage nature, but also submerge areas considered sacred by Alevis, who constitute the majority of the population in the province.

According to the law, no construction is permitted in national parks, but activists believe that a new amendment has created a loophole enabling the construction of energy facilities if they are considered in line with the “general interest.” The amendment, which prompted a heated debate, was recently suspended by the Council of State.

The third administrative court in Ankara ruled on Oct. 31 to cancel the Kaletepe hydroelectric plant (HES) on the grounds that the justifications put forward to exempt the project from the mandatory environmental impact assessment report (ÇED) were unlawful.

Lawyers representing locals said the same court had scrapped three other power plant projects in the Munzur valley last July. Two of the projects – Konaktepe HES 1 and Konaktepe HES 2 – had been planned inside the boundaries of the Munzur National Park.

A total of four dams and five hydroelectric plants are planned for the region, but lawyers say the latest ruling is a decisive turn to prevent their construction.

“From now on nobody can even drive one nail into Munzur National Park. The construction of any dam and hydroelectric project is no longer possible. If the state tries to carry out a dam project in the...