Despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s harsh criticism of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, a company owned by a mayoral candidate from the president’s ruling party is importing Israeli waste and dumping it in Turkey, according to an investigative journalist, citing publicly available data.
Israel began pounding Gaza in the aftermath of an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on October 7 that left some 1,200 people dead in Israel. The death toll in Gaza, now stands at over 32,600, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Bitmiyorlar. Yetişemiyorum. Her yerden çıkıyorlar.
İsrail'in çöpünü alıp Adana'da doğaya salan Akbulut Plastik'in sahibi Mustafa Akbulut Adana Seyhan'da Ak Parti'den aday olmuş.
Şirketin arkasındaki etkili isim olan Ömer Çelik, dün, "Gazze'yi en çok biz destekliyoruz" diye… pic.twitter.com/fNzKpJEaCD
— metin cihan (@metcihan) March 30, 2024
According to a tweet by investigative journalist Metin Cihan, Akbulut Plastik, owned by Mustafa Akbulut, a candidate for mayor of Adana’s Seyhan district from Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), is involved in the import and disposal of waste from Israel.
Israel and a number of European countries that are unable to process or dispose of certain kinds of waste at home without violating environmental regulations ship the waste to Turkey.
Turkish companies, including Akbulut Plastik, recycle some of this waste, while the rest is incinerated in cement factories or, even worse, disposed of directly into the environment, according to Cihan, who backs up his findings with pictures of plastic waste with Hebrew text sent from Adana.
This practice not only poses a significant risk to local ecosystems and public health, but also highlights the contradiction of Erdoğan’s AKP, which professes strong support for the Palestinians in Gaza while having businessmen in its ranks who help Israel dispose of its waste at the expense of Turks.
Cihan also draws attention to the irony that Turkish cement is produced using incinerated Israeli waste, which is sold back to Israel to be used, among other things, for the construction of outposts in the occupied territories of Gaza. He also criticizes the apparent financial incentives behind these operations, including state subsidies.