Bergama won the case against Normandy Mining -
Published by MAC on 2001-06-23
Bergama Won the Case Against Normandy Mining - June 23 2001
On 23rd of June 2001, Izmir Administrative Court cancelled the permission to Normandy's one year experimental operation based on previous Turkish Highest Court order of 1997.
Fully Australian owned Normandy Mining had been permitted to start the operation again by the Turkish Prime Minister after Australian PM J. Howard's negotiation in 2000. The Turkish Constitution states that "everyone has a right to live in a healthy environment". 650 local people sued the company in 2000. Many environmental organisations, lawyers, professional chambers and human rights organisations supported them in Turkey.
On 21st July 2001, the presidents of Bar's Association of three big cities will gather to make a huge press release in Bergama. They will decleare their support to defend the rights of Bergama villagers.
Once again, local people won the case against Normandy. This shows that they will not trust Normandy's safety measures and they do not want any gold mining operation with Cyanide Leaching method in the region.
Now, local people are celebrating their victory after 11 years.