The Other Red Sea
Text by Nikki Newhouse and Oya Gürel
"Nations are possessed with an
insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered
stone they leave.”
Thoreau
Most Cypriots know this story well. It
is the tale of a company that in 1912 grasped the potential of Cyprus’ rich
copper mines, officially established itself in 1916, and started digging up the
Lefke hills in 1919. The firm which carved into the region for years to retrieve
copper and gold, the firm which spread its poisonous waste all over the region
and then left Cyprus in 1975, leaving their dirt behind.
Now
an environmental and economic disaster is slowly strangling an entire region.
Not the region of Lefke, Gemikonaðý or even Cyprus, where at least 500 square
kilometres of land has been polluted by 10,000,000 tons of poisonous waste, but
the entire eastern Mediterranean. Conclusive research on just how much heavy
metal has accumulated within the blood cells of adults and children in the area
has never been thoroughly undertaken. Interviews with locals and with doctors
working in the Cengiz Topel Hospital in Yeþilyurt make clear that cases of nervousness,
depression, gastro-intestinal disturbances and dermatitis, commonly caused by
exposure to high levels of Selenium, are the norm. However, there is one thing
that people living there are sure of: the primary cause of death is cancer.
If you have the courage, go and see the
“death hills” left behind by the Cyprus Mining Corporation, although be sure
not to enjoy the view for more than 20 minutes. This is a tour with real bite.
You won’t send postcards, but you might end up in hospital. Meanwhile, don’t
forget to visit the Gemikonaðý dam, home to the region’s irrigation water,
and until recently, its drinking supply as well, bizarrely formed by flooding
the old mines and the C.M.C. chemistry laboratory (see picture).
You will note that this dam neighbours that used to contain a small
amount of C.M.C.’s liquid waste. They are separated by a small drop-off,
ensuring that any rain carries toxic waste straight into the local dam, which
supplies irrigation water for the vegetables and fruit that we eat. When you
have taken a good look, evaluate the real worth of the intended ‘clean-up
operation’, with its 3 billion TL budget (approximately £1,300), bearing in
mind the experts’ opinions, professing the need for at least $500,000,000 to
clean up the mess.
In this three part feature, we will
bring you the story of the C.M.C., the views of the people of Lefke and how
their health has been jeopardised along with that of their social and economic
prospects, as well as current research and how the C.M.C. disappeared and thus
avoided responsibility by way of repetitious merging with other firms. After
reading this you may still say, as they do here in Cyprus, ‘All hail to the
snake which didn’t bite me’ – that is, if you don’t feel its breath just
behind you…
The
history of mining in Cyprus is important for a full understanding of the current
situation.
The
researchers of the C.M.C. were by no means the first to be aware of the rich
mineral sources at Gemikonaðý, Lefke and Karadað. The region’s history of
plunder reaches back to the discovery of the importance of mines during the
Bronze Age, when the region gained a new and great value. Phoenicians, Hittites,
Egyptians, and Romans passed through these rich soils, and mined them for their
precious contents, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of slaves’ bodies
within the rock. The presence of ancient date palms, the leaves of which were
used by the Egyptians to make baskets for the carriage of their hoard are an
eerie reminder of just how much this area has given up over the years. However,
because their technology was only sufficient to remove the surface ore, they
left behind millions of tonnes of waste rich in such ore, and just as much, if
not more, deep within the soil.
At
the beginning of the twentieth century, the need for copper increased parallel
to the development of increasingly sophisticated technology. In particular,
American firms sought out these rich mining areas. The existence of such ancient
mining sites was no small miracle for these speculators, literally pointing out
as they did the presence of lucrative resources. They were made especially
attractive by being within such easy reach, thus substantially decreasing
research expense.
Charles
Godfrey Gunter a USA mining engineer, made a brief visit to Cyprus in 1912,
while undertaking a lengthy tour of the Middle East, and discovers the rich
copper and sulphur mines at Foucasse (Fugasa) near Lefke. He quickly related his
good fortune to Philip Wiseman and Seely Wintersmith,
owners of established American mining facilities, who later become owners of
the C.M.C. According to Gunter’s initial findings, there were at least
6,000,000 tonnes of glorious copper ready for the taking. With his news, the
region’s destiny was already falling into place.
Preparations completed swiftly by 1913, the mines at
the Fugasa Heights start operating and work is intensive. With true Yankee
resourcefulness, Gunther adapted his mining methods to fit the requirements of
the site, by training Greek and Turkish Cypriot farmers and shepherds to become
miners, mechanics and machine operators. In 1919, the C.M.C. built a small jetty
at Yeþilyurt and used the existing jetty at Gemikonaðý, originally
constructed for the export of locally-grown citrus fruit in order to export its
mined ore to Europe. At the same time, a railroad is constructed to run from
Fugasa Heights to Gemikonaðý for the exportation of the copper being
unearthed. By 1916, the C.M.C. has
been formally launched according to New York State laws, and shares of stocks
authorised. From this time on, the region whose wealth had always rested on its
production and exportation of its citrus goods, is transformed into a mining
area of brisk economic and social growth – growth that would soon start eating
the town alive. And still the research continues, with more copper found in the
south-west Karadað region. The export of juicy lemons and oranges is steadily
replaced by that of copper by 1921. Growing at a rate of knots, the C.M.C.
builds its own jetty at Gemikonaðý in 1926 (now in ruins) and constructed a
power plant, workshops, a mill plant, leaching and flotation plants and a
sulphuric acid plant near the coast as well as a miners’ village called Xero
near the factory.
"Be
always sure you are right, then go ahead."
People
were not the only vital resource in this ever-expanding game. The entire region
was under the watchful eye of the C.M.C., who were more than ready and willing
to take whatever they could from as much of the area as possible. The company
had been given initial speculator’s permission by the then British
administration to work on an area, 10 square miles in size. However, no borders
were established for the actual workings of that area, which included the Aplýç, Karadað, Fugasa, and Gemikonaðý port sites,
Thus essentially giving the American company free reign. So Gunter set to work.
According to the C.M.C. researchers, the most economically viable mining sites
were within local settlement areas. But never one to back down, Gunther set to
work to persuade the locals to give up these homes so inconveniently blocking
his access to wealth. Initially, Gunter attempted the basic tactic of offering a
pittance for their homes. Locals refused the offer and then found themselves
stuck between a rock and a hard place: the second offer was more direct. For tax
reasons, landowners in Lefke typically under-valued their lands. Gunther was
made aware of this and his threat was brutal: the locals were to accept the
meagre money he was offering or he would inform the tax officers of the
landowners’ true land value, thus raising their taxes and forcing them to sell
up. Lefke had no choice but to
buckle to Gunther’s demands. According to records, this artless theft of
peoples’ lands continued up until 1975, when the C.M.C. eventually left
Cyprus. It should also be noted that, according to the records of 1925, the
C.M.C., whose investment value was $2,000,000, themselves only paid ₤300 in tax to the municipality of Lefke.
In the meantime, the company was
expanding its operations year after year. People came form all over Cyprus in
order to find work. As a result, the population of the region increased
dramatically, booming to 6,000 in 1936. By 1937, the number the C.M.C.’s
employees had jumped from 2,595 to 5720. These uncontrolled increases in
population inevitably brought diseases such as malaria and meningitis. The
building of hospitals and elementary schools by the C.M.C. were not enough to
deter the very definite feeling amongst locals that all was not well in
paradise. Thus, in the 1930’s, tensions erupted into reactions against the
C.M.C., and opposition representatives were heard and supported in the Kavanin
Assembly, consisting of 3 Turkish Cypriots, 6 Greek Cypriots, 9 British and the
Governor, by a remarkable percentage of 67%. Ironically, this is the only joint
struggle of Turkish and Greek Cypriots recorded in the history of Cyprus.
In
1932, the Depression is in full swing and while the dollar drops, gold gains in
value. Thus the C.M.C. sets up its first gold mine in Fugasa. The gold was of a
superior quality but had one drawback: it was contained within soil termed by
the Cypriots as ‘The Devil’s mud’ consisting as it did of an unusually
high amount of acid, from which it had to be extracted.
The
purification process took place in the local Karkot stream and involved high
levels of limestone for braking and neutralisation, and cyanide for final
purification. Waste water, containing cyanide flowed into the stream. If we
consider that at least 75 to 100 tonnes of water was used per 1 tonne of ore, we
can clearly see that 700 to 800 thousand
tonnes of waste containing cyanide was thrown into the stream just for the first
8,000 tonnes of mine.
The
mine was then moved to Gemikonaðý as was the ‘cyanided refining’, now
releasing waste water into the Güzelyurt Bay, just 100 meters away. The solid
waste, 30,000 tonnes according to the recent records, created yellow hills of
cyanide waste, clearly visible on the approach to Gemikonaðý. The danger
created by such hills was only really perceived in the 1980’s. The gold mining continued until 1941, when the mine was
empty. Within this period, 2.5
tonnes of gold and 80 tonnes of silver were retrieved.
Millions of tonnes of waste from the copper mines as well as cyanide-rich
water was quietly flowing into the Mediterranean. It was obvious that, if this
continued, the Mediterranean would eventually become a waste swamp and so the
C.M.C. formulated a stunning solution and constructed a 3km pipeline under the
sea. By1950 the company had cleaned up its act, to the naked eye anyway, now
sending its waste into the open sea, taking advantage of underwater streams. It
is thought that because of this, the sea bed, from the shore out to open water,
is covered with a layer of waste. Local fishermen say that from time to time
they still find evidence of waste on their nets. Fish and chips, anyone?
Ceasing
its operations during World War II, the C.M.C. cranks back to life in 1946 and
continues its mining activities until February 1975.
There
is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.
The
C.M.C have left behind them a painful and debilitating legacy, one which
threatens the entire life of the island, the eastern Mediterranean, even. If we
acknowledge the 10 million tonnes of waste known to have flown into the sea just
in the winter of 1999, we can clearly understand the full dimensions of the
disaster. It is estimated that the 30,000 tonnes of solid waste at the shore
contain deadly amounts of highly carcinogenic cyanide. These wastes contain
intensive amounts of sulphur, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, cadmium, cobalt,
lead, chromium, molybdenum and arsenic, all highly dangerous to humans, animals
and environment alike. Not only are their original forms often deadly, but when
released into water or into the atmosphere, where they may come into contact
with other chemicals, they go on to form combinations, the affect of which can
only be guessed at. The question continually asked by locals and representatives
of Lefke’s Environmental Society is ‘Why?’ Why did this happen? How could
a company, which to all intents and purposes appears to have treated its
employees well, leave its operations so completely? The C.M.C. have always
claimed that they were forced to leave by the Turkish army in 1974, that their
bags were packed for them so to speak. How is it then that the company did not
actually leave the island until the February of 1975? Indeed, after the division
of Cyprus, did they feel no sense of responsibility or obligation enough to come
and clean up or, indeed, pick up where they left off? Political red tape and
embargoes may have made that an impossibility, but the company’s silence is no
explanation. Indeed, one has to wonder exactly what kind of message they are
trying to send out by their recent expansion of business into the south of the
island.
“What
Shall it Profit?”
The C.M.C.’s
methods in Cyprus appear to have become their general business ethos. Relying on
an approach of perpetual corporate disappearing and reappearing in order to
avoid being taken into account, C.M.C. have a long and protracted history of
merging with other firms and then splitting. First bought by another American
firm, Cyprus Amax, the C.M.C. then merged with another firm called Asarko,
famous for its nonexistent environmental policy. However, after hundreds of
cases were filed against Asarco for this very reason, they parted company. Now
C.M.C. as Cyprus Amax continues to pollute, dig up and destroy worldwide
environments within the structure of a huge global firm called Phelps Dodge.
Now, within a growing atmosphere of corporate accountability and environmental
awareness, there are individuals who are willing to take on the big players in
an effort to halt such wanton destruction in the name of capitalism. A case
filed against the firm in 1994 concluded that the firm’s mining activities had
caused lead and cadmium pollution at Bartlesville,
Oklahoma between 1907 and1993, and the company was ordered to pay for all
necessary cleaning expenses. The firm’s copper
mining activities in South Peru are well known, having destroyed most natural
life in the region with its wastes. The name behind frequent mining explosions
worldwide is again Cyprus Amax. Briefly, the actors are the same, only the
scripts and scenes are different. It
is most curious to note that the Phelps Dodge website is most adamant in making
readers aware of their ‘commitment to the environment’. Indeed, the sheer
amount of grandiose rhetoric on the subject is somewhat curious. You could be
forgiven for thinking that they had something to hide….
“Thus we passed through
a scene of sufferings that exceeds description.”
At
the insistence of the Lefke Environmental Society, a report was written by a
team consisting of Dr. Hans Günter Barth, Prof. Dr. Ünal Altýnbaþ, Prof. Dr.
Eymür Henden, Prof. Dr. Þevki Filiz and Prof. Dr. Ýsmail Duman, headed by
Prof. Dr. Ümit Erdem, Director of the Environmental Centre at the University of
Ege. It made for sobering reading:
“The
wastes left by the C.M.C. in Gemikonaðý should be estimated as one of the most
serious environmental problem in the world. It is also a legal problem and
should be treated as such…in an international context. The issue endangers
Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Greece and Italy as well as eastern and middle
Mediterranean countries. The main issue here is the responsibility of not
approaching an issue which concerns humanity, in a political or figurative way.
The problem is not only one for Lefke or Cyprus, but is an issue for
multi-national firms, starting with those in America. Turkish research shows
that accumulation of heavy metal such as barium and arsenic is a big problem for
the eastern Mediterranean. All
agricultural activity should cease immediately, water shouldn’t be used, and
herds shouldn’t be allowed to feed there before a risk analysis is done at the
region. Moreover, no one should be allowed to wander there unsupervised.” The
report also states that the polluted area is not contained within 2000 dönums
as previously thought, but that it stretches far beyond the estimated area. The
area where chemical reactions are still seen to be continuing on a daily basis
due to effluent and unsupervised machinery has been termed “The Death
Valley.”
The
report goes on:
“Serious
heavy metal pollution such as barium, cadmium, and arsenic in the eastern
Mediterranean is a reality, and so the region must be rehabilitated at once. The
area affected by the mining firms seems to be around 500 square kilometres.
Initial research shows that there is at least 8 million tonnes of
life-threatening toxic waste within this site. To reiterate, this is a problem
for all Mediterranean countries.”
Whilst
the report directs attention to the fact that the solid chemical waste consists
of cyanide and sulphur, it also warns about the resulting air pollution, caused
by sulphurous gasses (sulphuric acid), especially in the summer, when there is a
higher level of evaporation, particularly from the Gemikonaðý dam, which you
will recall was constructed by flooding the former mining sites, which could
carry sulphur with iron and copper, and “rust” can create an acidic
situation for drinking and irrigation water parallel to heavy metal intense.
The
Other Red Sea
As
is clearly stated within the report, the entire region is facing an inevitable
thread from these heavy and poisonous metals. This waste is disturbed by
rainwater and flows into the underground streams and eventually to the sea.
While underground streams become streams of acid, an apparent miracle occurs, 5
kilometres by 800 meters in size, as the sea is painted red.
However, pollution is not only
water-bourne. There is also a continual leaching of poison into the soil upon
which it sits. The waste is not just that left behind at eh cessation of
C.M.C.’s business. There are also numerous waste dumps, or ‘ponds’ as they
are termed, scattered around the area, differing in size, but all built along
the same lines: swathes of land, cut to resemble ponds a few meters deep and
filled with waste. Completely uncovered and
often built on high, wind-prone land, these sites are now ‘leaking’, waste
oozing in little rivulets from their sides. The result of this process is a
soil, painted in red and yellow against nature, starting from the sea and going
up to 100 meters inland.
The
report continues:
“Sampling
determined that the flowing water in the region had an intense sulphur smell,
and waste sampling showed that some water surfaces were crusted over with a
sulphuric shell. This evidence of continuing chemical reaction reveals acid
which affects our bodies. Meanwhile,
inorganic dust spread by the winds causes environmental pollution rich in
sulphur.
If we take a look at the
hydro-geological view of Lefke and Gemikonaðý, we can see that the streams
flowing by the Teodos Ofiyolit complexes and deserted copper-iron and sulphur
areas are a huge threat to the environment and every living being. The Lefke and
Gemikonaðý sites, which appear to actually cover more than 2000 dönums of
land, starts at the sea shore. The site is a site of environmental disaster,
which you can appreciate with all five senses. Another interesting finding is
that within the mentioned area, there are intensive numbers of the plant called Acacia cyanophylla. As you can understand from the name, it means
‘acacia which loves cyanide.‘”
Meanwhile,
Prof. Dr. Aysel Altimtay, an environmental engineer from Turkey’s Middle East
Technical University warns about watering plants with the water from the
Gemikonaðý dam, which is said in a recent report to be highly polluted with
heavy metals. The Gemikonaðý dam was completed in 1994. It has a capacity of 4
million cubic meters, and its irrigation area was planned to cover 130 hectares.
Side reefs surrounding the dam contain mining waste. There are two wells sourced
by the dam, which initially also supplied drinking water. It was decided only
two years ago that pollution within dam ‘might affect the wells’, and so
they were used solely for irrigation purposes. However, the analyses taken from
the dam show that the water is neither suitable for drinking no desirable for
the purpose of irrigation. When micro- elements of the soils watered from the
Gemikonaðý dam were analysed, it was noted that materials such as copper,
iron, manganese and zinc are high above critical limits.
This
clearly poses a major health risk. Dr. Aysel Altimtay says that eating
vegetables irrigated by water coming from this dam carries a serious and very
real danger of poisoning. However, in spite of these warnings, there has been no
serious attempt to find alternative means of irrigation. Having no other choice,
locals also water their gardens with water taken from wells, near to the cyanide
hills, and these vegetables are sold throughout the T.R.N.C. as are the meat and
milk products of animals fed on such vegetable matter.
If
the toxic chemicals within the real affected area, that is, an area far, far
larger than that admitted officially remain uncontrolled for five more years,
they will have disastrous effects.
When
the region is considered, this is a danger affecting at least 100 square
kilometres, including water, soil, surface land and underground areas. The costs
and risks of doing nothing to future generations will be far higher than they
are to the area’s current population. It is an injustice of the most profound
kind to destroy the basis of existence for these future generations. By keeping
the matter silent out of fear will aid no one in the long run and it is now that
the long run must be considered. A fear of economic and social boycott seems
frankly ludicrous when we consider what the people of this area have already
lost and yet this chilling silence on the matter remains, interrupted every so
often by the trumpeting of the latest clean-up attempt. All attempts so far have
fallen desperately short both in their estimation of the reality of the
situation and in their financial commitment, based as they are on commercial
gain not environmentalism. The people of Lefke and the surrounding areas have
nothing to lose – they gave everything they had to C.M.C.