The Munzur-river flows through the town of Dersim-Tunceli, which is situated in the province of Munzur in Anatolia. After having fulfilled all the necessary criteria, Munzur was declared a National Park on 21st December 1971. However, it is a fact that the landmines laid in the ground of this area have still not been cleared away, and the construction work of several dams in the Munzur-river has been going on in recent years, and in addition to all this, the high water quality of both the river and all the water sources in the surrounding area are in danger because of mining in the search of gold.

For years it has happened that hikers in this region have been harmed or even killed by landmines still hidden in the ground. Therefore, it is a matter of greatest urgency to tackle this problem by a thorough landmine clearance.

By constructing dams in the river, which is the heart of this most beautiful national park in Turkey, not only the natural course of the river will be altered considerably, but also important regions of Mesopotamia will be flooded, and consequently, this will be the cause for a significant change in the climate. Besides the great loss of beauty in terms of scenery, in this way the history of Mesopotamia would be more or less “scuttled”. Archaeological excavations brought a remarkable history to light, which can be traced back to the time of about 7000 B.C.

Mining in the search of gold makes it necessary to mix the water of the river with the highly poisonous cyanide. In this way, many inhabitants in the province of Munzur would be deprived of their valuable drinking water, the natural habitat of human beings, animals and plants would be destroyed in this territory, and in addition the biological cycle would be ruined for ever. Poisoning the Munzur-valley would even stretch to regions in the Persian Gulf and would endanger millions of living creatures, including human beings.

Research work carried out so far within the humble bounds of possibility showed that 1518 plants, 227 of which are endemic, can only be found in this unique national park. The surpassing diversity of fauna and flora in this region cannot be detected in other countries. Butterflies, which have not yet been registered, insects and various herbs, all of these still have their habitat now in the unspoilt nature in Munzur. Furthermore, so far not all the occurring lichens have been registered, this proves the lack of exploration work done in the National Park of Munzur.

If we compare this region with the whole area of the Alps, for example, which comprises Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Slovenia and, of course, Austria, we can see that there grow about 400 endemic plants, in Austria alone there are about 50 endemic plants. All this emphasizes the outstanding position of the Munzur National Park even more. Furthermore, we will also notice that the people’s way of living in Munzur does not only constantly arouse both nature and also animals to new life but also makes them grow and flourish. This is the reason, why species, that have already been registered as endangered species in other parts of the world, still have their natural habitat here without having to struggle for their survival.

The use of putting a region under conservation is to protect it and not to endanger it. This is why it seems to be utterly incomprehensible that these rules are completely ignored in the case of the Munzur National Park by approving the construction of nine dams in the Munzur-river as well as the mining in the search of gold.

The magnificent nature in Munzur is crying for help – now it is still possible to prevent the destruction of the habitat of its fauna and flora. Come and support this campaign: "S.O.S. Munzur is in Danger.