İsmail Arı
AKP Iğdır MP Cantürk Alagöz’s Alagöz Maden Company has committed a new environmental disaster in the Harşit Valley in Giresun.
The local community has been fighting for years against the company owned by AKP member Alagöz, which operates the ‘lead, zinc and copper’ mine in the village of Çatalağaç, which is part of Doğankent.
The company is expanding the mine in Çatalağaç village, home to approximately 500 people, day by day.
Yesterday, heavy rain fell in the region. The mine’s chemical waste pond overflowed due to the heavy rainfall. However, this is not the first scandal involving the mining company.
TWO CHEMICAL WASTE POND CONSTRUCTED ILLEGALLY!
Alagöz Maden submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) application to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change on 30 October 2023. The application stated that another waste pond would be built for the mine. However, the mining company illegally constructed the waste pond before the EIA application was decided. Following this scandal, it was revealed that the company had built a second illegal chemical waste dam.
Following the scandal, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change announced that it had imposed an administrative fine on the mining company.
FINE IMPOSED REPEATEDLY
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change took samples from water sources around the mine on 18 April 2024. Samples taken from eight points revealed that some values exceeded the specified levels and that the Derin Dere stream in the area had been polluted due to mining activities.
Based on Environmental Law No. 2872, Alagöz Maden was fined 464,585 TL. The penalty notice obtained by BirGün stated, ‘As a result of the applications and findings, it has been determined that the surface waters (stream) reaching the facility site have changed due to mining activities and have acquired the status of waste water.’
Moreover, Alagöz Maden, which had polluted the stream the previous year, was fined only 54,783 TL. It was learned that the reason for the fine was ‘pollution of the stream with excavated material, soil and construction materials.’
GOVERNOR VISITED THE MINE
Giresun Governor Fatih Serdengeçti visited the mine, which has been repeatedly documented as polluting the environment and water, on 28 January. Governor Serdengeçti shared photos of his visit to the mine on his social media account, stating, ‘We conducted inspections at the Alagöz Maden Doğankent facilities and received information about the work being carried out from company officials.’
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled AKP’li vekilin madeni toprağı da suyu da zehirledi, published in BirGün newspaper on September 21, 2025.
