A repulsive stench engulfed an area near the ferry pier in Izmir’s Konak on Tuesday as the waters turned brown. The sight is only one among many signs of rampant pollution troubling Türkiye’s third-largest city.
Critics blame it on the municipality, which has been run by the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), since 2003. The municipality is accused of overlooking environmental problems, counting on the steady votes of die-hard CHP supporters in this Aegean city.
Arif Yıldırım, who strolls near the pier, says he first thought it was just something “waves brought” when he saw brown water. “Then came the smell,” he told the Anadolu Agency (AA). “It is really strange how they dare to discharge the water in such a public place,” he said.
The Izmir municipality has been fined repeatedly for water pollution, mostly due to poor wastewater treatment practices or lack thereof in several areas of the city. The municipality claims the pollution haunting the Gulf is the result of the accumulation of pollution dating back decades ago and blames the government instead, insisting the latter should be responsible for cleaning it. The municipality also claims that the loss of water in the Gulf, in turn, led to a loss of currents that played a part in clearing the pollution.
“This is what happened to Izmir. Authorities should see it. Fish are dying here, nature is polluted, and the air is polluted. It is like an open sewer here. Somebody should do something about it,” Yıldırım said.
“I came here for a view of the sea but can’t stand the odor,” Necmettin Teke, another resident, complained.
On March 3, the Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change issued a fine of TL 1.8 million ($49,170) to IZSU, the municipality’s water company, for violating environmental laws. The ministry has stated that a wastewater treatment facility of the company in the district of Çiğli had no license to operate and wastewater samples taken from the facility demonstrated discharge far above the permitted amount. The ministry’s inspections also found irregularities in another facility in Eski Foça of Izmir.
The Izmir municipality was issued fines amounting to more than TL 26 million last year after more than 200 inspections by the ministry, which also filed legal action against municipal officials accused of not taking measures against the pollution. Yet, since January, the municipal facilities continued to discharge wastewater without treatment into the Gulf.
Last December, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum squarely blamed the opposition-run municipality for pollution as well as mass fish deaths in the Gulf of Izmir linked to pollution. Kurum told a parliamentary session in December that the ministry had drafted a 15-point emergency action plan.
The minister on Wednesday announced that they took immediate action against wastewater discharge near the Konak pier, while the ministry said in a statement that a fine of more than TL 3.3 million was handed to the IZSU after the incident.
“Air, water and land of this country are protected. You cannot harm those we are supposed to entrust to future generations. You cannot pollute the wealth of this country however you want. We will continue our fight against pollution, as well as negligence,” Kurum wrote in a social media post.
