Environmental Groups Complain Against Turkey Over BTC

(Tbilisi, July 11, 2003, Civil Georgia) – Coalition of the environmental NGOs claim the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline now under construction puts Turkey in violation of its accession agreements for entry into the European Union and in violation of international law.

The Environment News Service reports that the Friends of the Earth, the Kurdish Human Rights Project, PLATFORM, the Ilisu Dam Campaign and Corner House NGOs submitted on July 8 a legal complaint to the European Commission asking for an exercise of the commission’s powers under the accession agreements with Turkey.

In the submission to the European Commission NGO coalition states that the pipeline agreement amounts to a “clear potential breach of Turkey’s future EU law obligations, principally the obligation to accept the supremacy of Community Law.”

Turkey has undertaken to implement EU laws on environmental impact assessments, but the coalition’s submission to the European Commission contends that the pipeline project violates EU environmental impact assessment requirements on the failure to consult properly with those affected by the pipeline.

According to the Environment News Service the complaint is supported by sworn affidavits from villagers affected by the project, who state that they have not been properly consulted.

A law suit has been filed recently against the BTC in Georgia. Tbilisi District Court accepted a law suit of Georgian environmental NGO Green Alternative against the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources concerning the permission to construct Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.

Georgian Ministry of Environment gave its go-ahead to construction of the Georgian sections of the BTC on November 30, 2002.

The Green Alternative claims that the permission was issued with the violation of law, as the decision-making process was not transparent for public.

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