KOCAELI - Residents of Fatih District in Dilovası, where cancer caused by heavy industry facilities is most common, are disturbed by the chemical storage facility established next to them. Citizens stated that they were forced to migrate said, "It's time for change" about the central and local governments they criticized.
The chemical storage area established in the Fatih District of Dilovası district of Kocaeli is 10 meters away from the settlements and threatens the health of the entire district people. The research commission established in the Parliament in 2007 for Dilovası, one of the districts with the highest number of cancer cases in the district where industrialization began since the 1960s, noted that lung and stomach cancer death rates were 2.6 times the world average and prostate cancer death rates were 3.2 times the world average. According to the data determined in 2017, the ratio of cancer deaths to all deaths in the world is 12.5 percent, in Turkey it is 12.9 percent, in Kocaeli this rate is 18.9 percent and in Dilovası it is 33.7 percent.
ESTABLISHED IN THE RECREATION AREA
The people who have to live with a disturbing odor in Fatih District think that the policy of displacement is behind such decisions. Stating that there are migrations to other neighborhoods due to chemical storage areas, residents of the neighborhood complain that all attempts against these storage facilities, which are increasing day by day, are inconclusive. Emphasizing that the area where the storage tanks were placed was previously a recreation area and that the trees there were completely cut down, neighborhood resident Sedat Demiral noted that the municipality administration opened the area to factories for profit purposes.
FULL OF EXPLOSIVES
Drawing attention to the explosion danger of chemical storage tanks, Demiral said: “All fuel systems are included in this. They say, 'We do not stock hazardous waste here', but there are no other stockpiles. This is the huge stockyard. There is solvent and fuel oil here. The smell of fuel oil is immediately noticeable. They are all explosives. Earlier, a tank exploded here and then a fire broke out. They tried to evacuate this entire region."
DELIVERY TO TAVSANCIL NEIGHBORHOOD
Reacting to the imposition of removal, Demiral said: “We have been here for 35 years, if you are going to remove this place, remove Dilovası completely. Now they are building residences in Tavsancıl District, they want to move us there, they will put the people in debt. Am I going to leave here, move into a house, and pay debts for years? Is there such a logic?"
'DEM PARTY IS A CHANCE FOR US'
Neighborhood resident Ercan Demirbaş stated that they were under siege of chemical factories and that he would have to leave his home. Stating that both the central government and the municipality under AKP administration continue this policy for profit, Demirbaş said that he will support DEM Party's municipal co-mayor candidate Mustafa Avcı against this policy because he knows him. Demirbaş stated the following: “When you look at the environment, Dilovası has become a shrinking district. The population is decreasing, young people do not want to stay here. The mayor distributed the tablets he received from factories and industries under his own name. Is such nonsense possible? The only solution is change. It's time to change. DEM Party nominated a candidate. We know Mustafa Avcı and it is a chance for us. He has Metropolitan Municipality experience. We have a chance, I will vote for DEM.”