Eti Bakır, which operates in the rural Gola Gulê, Teznê, Kufrak, Deşan, Şemika and Girêsor neighbourhoods of the district, turned the area into a construction site. 

 

While the entire region was covered with piles of rubble due to mining activities, land belonging to villagers was either bought or forcible expropriated over the years. Finally, Eti Bakır, which covets the pasture areas where thousands of animals graze, had the qualification of the area changed as “raw land” by the Governorate of Mardin and allocated it to itself. 

 

WATER SOURCES DRIED UP 

 

The rubble piled up everywhere has reached right up to the houses in the village of Şemika. In addition, Eti Bakır's Solar Power Plant (SPP) have rendered a large area unworkable, and the railway built to transport the mine and the phosphate produced has caused a great destruction in the region.

 

While there are allegations that gold separation with cyanide is also being carried out at the Eti Bakır factory, where phosphate fertiliser is produced, many of the water souces have dried up completeyly due to dynamite explosions blocking the waterways. 

 

EMPTY PITS LEFT BEHIND FROM THE PONDS 

 

Some of the dried up water sources in the region are located in Gola Gulê neighbourhood. There is not a single drop of water in Gola Gulê, which is located in the centre of the village and named after the roses blooming around it. In addition to the lake that gives its name to the village, Gola Xezale lake is also completely dried up. 

 

The ponds formed by the flow of rainwater through the canals created centuries ago dried up due to the closure of the canals during mineral exploration activities. 

 

Due to the railway works, underground and surface waters were forced to change their direction, and the ponds, which until recently were signposted by Mêrdîn Metropolitan Municipality as "Entering the pond is dangerous and forbidden", have now turned into empty pits without a drop of water.

 

Mehmet Aktaş, one of the villagers, stated that Gola Xezalê was once one of the biggest water stocks of the village, but today there is not a drop of water. Aktaş said: "This is our village pasture. Until 2022, it was referred to as 'village pasture'. But now it is recognised as 'raw land'. There is a big game here and despite the lawsuits we have filed, we cannot cope with it. We stop the execution, they start it again."

 

'THEY LEFT NO LIFE'

 

One of the villagers Abdullah Işık stated that the trees in his garden were drying up and his vineyards were drying up due to the activities of Eti Bakır, and that the groundwater collection areas were destroyed during the railway work and that the water in the region did not stop. 

 

Işık added: "They wanted to silence us with money. We do not want our trees and land to be destroyed. They left no life here. But we just want to live. We could not collect a bag of almonds from 500 trees. We have been living here since our grandfathers. They want to send us away from here. We want them to leave our land and pastures."

 

 MA / Ahmet Kanbal