İYİ Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu held his party’s weekly group meeting in Antalya on Wednesday, 11 November, using the speech to set out the opposition party’s position on climate policy as the city hosts the COP31 UN climate conference, ANKA and İlkses reported.
The meeting took place at the Erdem Bayazıt Culture Centre in Antalya’s Kepez district, according to ANKA. Dervişoğlu opened his speech by commemorating Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, both outlets reported; İlkses noted the anniversary of his death on 10 November.
COP31 and the government’s record
Dervişoğlu said it was a positive development that Türkiye was hosting COP31, but argued that hosting the conference would not undo the effects of 25 years of what he called rent-driven zoning and construction policy under the current government, ANKA and İlkses reported.
He said energy projects had harmed rivers, mining had damaged forests and mountains, and coasts, seas and cities had also suffered, according to both outlets. The real question, he said, was what would remain once the delegations had left Antalya, ANKA reported, while İlkses quoted him as asking whether the country could protect its water and soil and keep tourism workers in work.
‘Water and soil first’
Dervişoğlu said climate change was real and that drought, fires, floods and extreme heat were already a threat, warning that denying it would leave farmers, industrialists and workers unprepared, ANKA and İlkses reported. He said the İYİ Party would "first protect water and soil", according to both outlets.
He said the party would present a COP31 manifesto during the conference, ANKA and İlkses reported. According to ANKA, he planned to announce it in the conference’s Blue Zone after the group meeting. No details of the manifesto had been published by early afternoon.
For President Erdoğan’s speech opening the leaders’ summit the same day, see our report on the COP31 leaders’ summit, and for the start of the conference, the COP31 opening in Antalya.
Sources
- İYİ Parti grup toplantısı. Dervişoğlu: Bu iktidarın kendisi bir ekolojik felakettir (ANKA)
- Dervişoğlu’ndan COP31 ve çevre mesajı: Önce suyu ve toprağı koruyacağız (İlkses)
Photo: alonefanky / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
