Sinpaş Holding will participate as a "climate supporter" at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), which Turkey will host in Antalya from Nov 9-20.
A report by ANKA News Agency describes the company's sustainability efforts:
"Protecting natural resources, improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, recycling water and adopting circular economy practices are the cornerstones of the Holding's approach to sustainability."
Organizations seeking to participate in COP31 as "climate supporters" must apply through the summit's official website.
The summit will have two designated areas: the Blue Zone and the Green Zone. The former will host official negotiations under the UN framework, and the latter is described as a space bringing together organizations, businesses, innovators and civil society, according to the summit's official website. The Green Zone will host exhibitions, discussions, workshops and networking events focused on sustainability and climate action.
Questions we emailed through the official COP31 website about the eligibility criteria for organizations seeking to participate in the Green Zone remained unanswered at the time of publication.
We also contacted Sinpaş Holding for comment but were unable to reach an authorized company representative.
Hotel project in Muğla national park: Company sets up new concrete plant despite court order
'This is staggering hypocrisy'
Halime Şaman, a member of the Muğla Environment Platform and the Climate Justice Coalition and secretary-general of the Urban Policies Association, is among the activists who have spent years opposing the tourism developments ocarried out by Sinpaş Holding's Kızılbük GYO on the Aegean coast.
She told bianet that she was astonished by the decision to include the holding in the summit:
"The pressure on environmental defenders was documented as an example of human rights violations by eight UN rapporteurs, who raised questions about it with the government. This is staggering hypocrisy."
United Nations (UN) special rapporteurs previously documented the rights violations Şaman has faced in a report.
The report, dated Apr 23, detailed rights violations against two women environmental rights defenders in Turkey, namely Şaman and Esra Işık, who was jailed during the years-long struggle against mining operations in Muğla's Akbelen Forest.
According to the report, Şaman faced "administrative, legal and economic harassment since 2021 because of her environmental and human rights work." It also details her campaign against the hotel and timeshare development undertaken by Sinpaş Real Estate Investment Trust and Kızılbük GYO, along with the legal proceedings and court decisions overturning approvals for the project.
The report also addresses the decision to terminate Şaman's disability pension entirely in January, despite her disability being officially recognized by the Social Security Institution (SGK). The latest hearing in the case was held recently.
'A masquerade'
Şaman said the development had once again demonstrated the importance of the Peoples' Climate Summit, which activists are organizing as an alternative to COP31:
"The whole reason we organized the Peoples' Climate Summit is that this masquerade has been going on for 30 years. They gather under the UN umbrella. Supposedly, they're going to take action to prevent the climate crisis. Supposedly, they're going to find ways to phase out fossil fuels.
"Supposedly, they're also going to keep global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees. Fossil fuel companies get to these summits before governments do. They lobby there and stand in the way of decisions that would benefit people and nature. Sinpaş becoming a climate supporter of COP31 is a textbook example of this. Everyone involved in this struggle in Marmaris is extremely angry and upset."
Şaman noted that lawsuits over the ecological damage caused by the company have been ongoing for years:
"While these lawsuits were ongoing, the company carried out such reckless environmental destruction that, despite its powerful business connections in Turkey, some public institutions had no choice but to take action."
Marmaris Municipality previously fined the company 60 million liras over the Kızılbük project, and the construction site was sealed off.
Şaman questioned how a company that has faced sanctions for environmental damage could qualify as a "climate supporter" at COP31:
"We will tell those who claim they will 'prevent the climate crisis' while standing alongside Sinpaş that they are not telling the truth. You are taking part in greenwashing, and we will not forgive that."
Ufuk Beytekin, president of the Urban Policies Association, is another environmental defender who has campaigned against the Kızılbük project. A court previously dismissed a 300,000-lira compensation lawsuit filed against him by Sinpaş Kızılbük GYO.
Speaking to bianet, Beytekin also criticized Sinpaş's participation in COP31 as a "climate supporter":
"We've been fighting against the ecological destruction caused by this company for a very long time, since 2019. This company tore apart national park land that doesn't even belong to it. It isn't their land. They cleared it, tore it up, filled it in, demolished it and devastated it."
Beytekin recalled the complaints they had filed over the years, the fines and sanctions imposed by public authorities, and court rulings overturning decisions related to the project:
"It's not our property, but Marmaris is where we live. Even though we moved here from elsewhere, we've tried to protect this town. The company is being praised for 'protecting natural resources,' particularly 'water recycling' and the 'circular economy.' Yet sewage is currently being discharged into the sea.
"There are no Blue Flag beaches left in Marmaris. Everyone is actually complaining about this. But the same silence that prevails across the country prevails here, too."
(CA/VK)