Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur: The Case of Demirel and the Duck 1 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Department of GeoKgyraleph Ty,. MEvicehriegdan State University, Geography Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1117 U.S.A.

Turkey’s combined coastal and inland wetlands are collectively larger than those of any other country in either the Middle East or Western Europe. In addition to their unique attributes as diverse ecosystems, wetlands are also vital because of their properties and functions. As in other countries, however, these ecological benefits and the wetland ecosystems themselves are threatened resulting from historic processes of wetland loss that were associated, throughout the 20th century, both with reclamation for settlement and agriculture and with drainage projects connected to public-health concerns. Over the past two decades, moreover, wetlands have been especially vulnerable amid state-led and now neo-liberal schemes for economic development. Using the case of Lake Burdur and its Ramsar registered wetlands, and relying on more than a decade of fieldwork in the region and a read - ing of associated environmentalist reports and lawsuits, this article surveys and analyzes some of the major threats facing these ecosystems in Turkey and factors associated with their protection. Key words: conservation, environment, Lake Burdur, neo-liberalism, political ecology, Ramsar, Turkey, wetlands

Les zones humides côtières et continentales de Turquie ont une superficie supé - rieure à celles de n’importe quel autre pays du Moyen-Orient ou d’Europe occiden - tale. En plus de leurs caractères spécifiques en tant qu’écosystèmes divers, ces zones humides sont également essentielles de par leurs propriétés et leurs fonctions. Comme dans d’autres pays, cependant, tant les bénéfices écologiques que les écosystèmes des zones humides eux-mêmes sont menacés par des processus histo - riques de disparition, qui ont été associés, au cours du vingtième siècle, avec l’assè - chement pour la colonisation et l’agriculture ou avec des projets de drainage mis en relation avec des questions de santé publique. De plus, au cours des deux dernières décennies, les zones humides ont été particulièrement vulnérables face aux programmes de développement étatiques, devenus maintenant néolibéraux. Cet article étudie et analyse certaines des menaces les plus importantes pesant sur ces écosystèmes ainsi que les facteurs associés à leur protection, en prenant le cas du Lac de Burdur en Turquie et de ses zones humides, inscrits dans la Convention de Ramsar. Il s’appuie sur plus d’une décennie de travail de terrain dans la région et sur l’étude de rapports environnementaux et de procédures juridiques. Mots-clés: préservation, environnement, Lac de Burdur, néo-libéralisme, écologie politique, Convention de Ramsar, Turquie, zones humides.

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 45 -71 © 2012 AWG Publishing, Toronto Canada 46 Kyle T. Evered

Introduction

In many nation-states throughout the world, socio-economic imperatives for rapid development and a lack of environmental considerations, especially among developers and state planners, can be cataclysmic for specific species Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 and even entire ecosystems. Given a frequent lack of recognition of their economic value and ecologically significant functions—even in some of the world’s most affluent and environmentally educated societies—wetlands can and do suffer under intense pressures to develop. In Turkey, this problem is common and increasingly frequent. Beginning with an overview of the inter - disciplinary field of political ecology and approaches that incorporate geographic scale in order to analyze wetlands, this article engages with some of the key themes in researching wetlands on a global scale, with special attention to the status of wetlands in Turkey. These key topics include wetland bio-geographies and a survey of the threats that impede their protection and conservation. Based on data from court records and fieldwork conducted in the wider lakes region since the late 1990s, this article thus addresses some of the threats to wetlands throughout Turkey by focusing on the contentious and multiscalar politics of development and environment, as revealed through the specific case of Lake Burdur and its wetland ecosystems. Political Ecology, Geographic Scale, and the Study of Wetlands

As an integrative discipline that stresses a spatial approach rather than partic - ular topics or methodologies, geography affords researchers many opportuni - ties to investigate environmental issues from perspectives in the physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. In particular, with anthropology, it fostered traditions of scholarship in the mid-20th century that focused on the interconnections between people and their physical environments in the cultural ecology developing world—an interdisciplinary field later known as (a term often traced to Steward’s framework for analyzing cultural/techno - logical adaptations to the environment as associated with subsistence, behav - ioural patterns, and prevailing culture systems; Steward 1955, 30–42). Much of the work that emerged from this approach was quite descriptive, and many early studies were both highly functionalist in orientation and spatially and temporally limited. As such, they rendered static generalizations about local environments, ecologies, and cultural landscapes; for example, Netting (1986), originally written in 1977, reflects both the field’s range and its limi - tations, lacking a critical examination of the connections between communi - ties and the larger world and associated historical processes. In this tradition, research on wetlands and adjacent peoples yielded detailed examinations of the ecologies and societies that emerged (e.g., monographs on rice paddies or chinampa fisheries in Southeast Asia, or on Mesoamerican ), but apart from

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur 47 lamenting changes to indigenous communities, they often lacked critical inquiry into the transformational dynamics that local peoples and ecosystems were subject to (and resisting) amid processes of modernization, nation build - ing, and (under)development.

As cultural ecology incorporated structuralist and materialist concepts of Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 political economy (e.g., in Wolf 1972, one of the sources often noted for the early coining of the term “political ecology”), it re-emerged as political ecol - ogy between the early 1970s and the mid-1980s. Though it continued to account for local, traditional sites and societies, it also analyzed linkages with and pressures from wider political and economic processes, both within specific states and throughout states of the developing world. This theoretical upgrade enabled researchers to better acknowledge and scrutinize how, for example, problems of environmental degradation in particular places were associated with wider issues such as poverty, landlessness, underdevelop - ment, colonial and neo-colonial relations, and political and economic margin - alization (for foundational works see Blaikie 1985; Blaikie and Brookfield 1987). Transitions from cultural ecology to a structuralist political ecology thus facilitated analyses of wetlands that moved beyond examinations of local subsistence ecologies to inquiries into how development schemes and other economic and political phenomena are implicated in the degradation of wetlands and associated traditional life ways. The structural emphasis, however, still omitted analysis of traditions of perceiving and conceptualiz - ing both wetlands and the means to protect them. By the 1990s, shifts toward post-structural methods enabled political ecology to question how societies constructed nature, environmental prob - lems, responses to problems, and appropriate means of advancing solutions. For example, William Adams’ rigorous examination of profuse—and often contradictory—meanings of “sustainability,” both as concept and as political agenda, conveyed the crucial need to explore environmental discourse (Adams 2001; first published 1990). This incorporation of critical theory was complemented by developments in related fields that emphasized (1) the poli - tics and power relations of both state and non-state actors (especially in terms of activism, feminism, environmental politics, civil society, new social move - ments, the roles of resistance or contentious politics, and governance; reflect - ing these developments through time, see Rocheleau, Thomas-Slayter, and Wangari 1996; Bryant and Bailey 1997; Castree and Braun 2001; Peet and Watts 2004; Robbins 2004; Biersack and Greenberg 2006; Goodman, Boykoff, and Evered 2008); (2) notions of risk in modern societies (e.g., on concepts of risk—and “risk society”—see Beck 1992, 1999); and (3) the environmental and socio-political implications of neo-liberalism (e.g., Brenner and Theodore 2002; Harvey 2005; Leitner, Peck, and Sheppard 2007; Heynen et al. 2007). Whether examining environmental problems from perspectives of structuralism or materialism, or in terms of ideas deriving

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 48 Kyle T. Evered from post-structuralism and critical theory, most in the field were also compelled to deal with the dynamic shifts in linkages between places and globalization sectors amid increasing relationships, broadly generalized as . A primary means of engaging with these shifting terrains, from the local to the global, involved recognizing geographic scale and the politics of its Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 construction. Since the early 1990s, geographers have explicitly stressed geographic scale in teaching and research (e.g., surveying scale in geography; see Sheppard and McMaster 2004). Consistent with trends toward fostering crit - ical thinking, most rudimentary geography lessons today emphasize scale in order to convey how perspectives on a given issue shift depending on the scale (e.g., individual, local, national, regional, or global) of perception and/or construction. Beyond acknowledging diverse experiences and points of view or considering how problems are framed spatially, the emphasis on scale in research also stresses scale construction—even institutionalization (e.g., the European Union)—and how such processes are implicated in the very prob - lems in question. For example, Neil Smith’s earliest works on scale (Smith 1992a, 1992b) note the importance of not simply identifying the levels of how scale that are operative but also articulating scales are constructed socially and politically (see also Smith 1996; Delaney and Leitner 1996; Marston 2000). As important for physical geographers as for human geogra - phers, inquiries into scale also underscore the socio-political dynamics inher - ent in what some misconstrue as “pure” science (or ecologies of politics and science; see Forsyth 2003). For example, how does the physical scientist deal with instances of flooding or drought—as local, national, regional, or global problems? Even if the act of researching such questions has not been politi - cized (e.g., amid contemporary debates over environmental degradation, energy politics, and global climate change), the implications of such studies are decidedly at least as political as they may be scientific. In the individual cases of wetlands that are degraded, conserved, or restored, there are many vantage points from which to view ongoing processes, but there are also numerous scales through which these processes are linked to the wider world—and scales that shape and reshape experi - ences. Moreover, involved actors may be motivated by scale-dependent considerations from one scale while their actions are situated at others. Such dynamics are sometimes identified as a “shifting,” “jumping,” or “bending” of scale—or “re-scaling” (Mansfield 2001, 2005). This article on the politi - cal ecologies of wetlands in Turkey thus provides an introduction both to their study and to the politicized and scale-connected dynamics underlying contemporary processes of wetland degradation and protection. Following an overview of the biogeographic, threat-based, and conservation-related factors associated with Turkey’s wetlands, I address the specific case of Lake Burdur as a wetland site in order to provide a clear example of how the

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur 49 politics of scale are implicated in our understandings—and the very poli - tics—of current challenges confronting these essential ecosystems. Bio-geographies of Wetlands in the World and in Turkey Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Defining a wetland may seem a straightforward endeavour, but results vary greatly, depending on what factors included, how they are combined, and one’s purpose in rendering a definition. Often wetland definitions simply consist of a number of the examples that come to mind when the term “wetlands” is employed (e.g., swamps, marshes, bogs, deltas, fens, mangroves, mires, moors, quagmires, sloughs, potholes, oxbows). Such lists of related terms are common, perhaps because one or more terms in such lists might register for some better than others, but also because wetlands are themselves so very diverse. Commonly perceived as the in-between spaces, or ecotones, spanning land and aquatic ecosystems, wetlands are frequently defined to include aspects of both factors (i.e., soil and water) and the fact that, as ecosystems unto themselves, they provide unique homes to plants and animals. Thus, in addition to defining wetlands according to geomorphologi - cal and hydrological properties, we also identify them according to biological features. Incorporating all three aspects of wetlands, the National Research Council defines a wetland ecosystem as one that depends on constant or recurrent, shallow inundation or saturation at or near the surface of the substrate. The minimum essential characteristics of a wetland are recurrent, sustained inundation or saturation at or near the surface and the presence of physical, chemical, and biological features reflective of recurrent, sustained inun - dation or saturation. Common diagnostic features of wetlands are hydric soils and hydrophytic vegetation. These features will be present except where specific physio - chemical, biotic, or anthropogenic factors have removed them or prevented their development (National Research Council 1995, xx).

This definition of wetlands was created to aid and focus scientific research, but it also derived from the increasing need in the United States to render a common definition that would suit the legislative and judicial purposes of involved parties—lawyers, conservationists, developers, and others. Many prefer this definition because it incorporates wetlands’ main features without being overly restrictive with respect to their many variables. Wetland variations derive from (1) the water itself—both in volume and when it is present; (2) relationships with and influences on and from adjacent ecosystems; (3) species types (plant, animal, and/or microbial) and their ecologies and interactions; (4) size—ranging from small potholes to immense areas in Amazonia or Siberia; (5) geographic situation—whether by latitudi - nal distance from the equator, by coastal or insular location, or by proximity to settlements and human activities; and (6) their anthropogenic changes

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 50 Kyle T. Evered through time (Mitsch and Gosselink 2007, 29–30; see also Keddy 2000). This definition also reminds us that the scale of the nation-state—with its priorities and its limitations—is increasingly significant throughout the world, as states are anticipated (ideally) to undertake stewardship of and arbitration over the environment and associated ecosystems and resources. Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 The combined coastal and inland wetlands of the Turkish nation-state are collectively larger than those of any other country in either the Middle East or Western Europe. Various sources, ranging from listings of government and environmental groups to recreational associations (e.g., those composed of birdwatchers, eco-tourists, and others), list the actual number of significant wetlands between 70 and 90. However, if we apply the standard NRC defini - tion (or even the Ramsar definition, discussed below under the heading “Geographies of Conservation and Turkey’s Wetlands”), the actual number is much higher. For example, Magnin and Yarar (1997) list over 100 sites that could be considered wetlands. A more exact scientific estimate would require a detailed analysis of Turkey involving remotely sensed (satellite) imagery followed by rigorous field testing. As in most places, there are likely many more wetland areas that are commonly undetected by most observers, owing to seasonality of inundation, a lack of readily apparent fauna or flora, and other factors (e.g., most recently, climate change and desiccation). Apart from their unique attributes, wetlands are also vital ecosystems because of particular properties and functions. Even the 11 January 1993 Circular 1 on protecting wetlands issued by Süleyman Demirel as prime minister of Turkey provided abundant testimony to the significance of wetlands in Turkey, with respect to size, ecological and biological diversity, and function (TC 1993a; this 1993 circular functioned as something of an amendment to the existing 1983 legislation, Environment Law No. 2872; TC 1983). If we focus solely on these aspects—taking the functional approach commonly articulated in ecology and environmental sciences (epitomized by de Groot 1992, qtd. in Keddy 2000)—it would be difficult to overemphasize their significance both for nature and for human societies. We may summa - rize some of these functions in terms of wetlands’ productive, hydrological and water-quality, habitat and food-chain, and socio-economic capacities (see Sather and Smith 1984; on wetland functions, see also Mitsch and Gosselink 2007; Keddy 2000). First, though wetlands constitute only 5 % to 8 % of the global terrestrial environment (Mitsch and Gosselink 2007, 43–48), they contribute an esti - mated 24 % of global primary production. This makes wetlands among the most productive of the world’s ecosystems, second only to rainforests (Williams 1990b); wetlands even surpass tropical rainforests in primary production in some estimates (e.g., Whittaker and Likens 1973, qtd. in Keddy 2000, 59). Unlike tropical rainforests, however, wetlands are found in most parts of the inhabited world. In other words, from the perspective of many

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur 51 environmentalists, almost everyone can and should play an active role in the preservation of wetlands in their wider communities. As demonstrated in many parts of the world, even when wetlands are “reclaimed,” the net produc - tivity of the agricultural lands that replace them rarely matches the produc - tivity of destroyed wetlands. Moreover, unlike agricultural fields, wetlands Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 are self-sustaining and require none of the inputs demanded by modern agri - culture (i.e., labour, irrigation, and fertilizers). In the largely Mediterranean environments and climates of Turkey, where we encounter significant histo - ries of soil erosion/degradation (i.e., losses of productivity) and ongoing chal - lenges to effective management of water resources (e.g., see Aydın Coşkun 2010), wasting natural generators of productive mass—that is, wetlands—is something that should be avoided. Second, wetlands are nature’s greatest water filters, receiving not only nutrients but also water and waste from surrounding ecosystems and human communities. In doing so, wetlands serve as temporary stores in the hydro - logical cycle—preventing floods and erosion, and recharging aquifers. Moreover, wetlands are proven to be incredibly significant in processes of both retaining pollutants received (rather than passing them along to other ecosystems) and actually breaking down many of the pollutants that enter them. Indeed, these ecological (and economic) virtues of wetlands have led, in much of the developed world, to the development of industries devoted to restoring and creating wetlands for both water storage and water treatment (e.g., Ayaz 2008). In the case of Turkey, a country where stories of lives and property lost to floods are an annual news feature and where urbanization and industrialization are occurring at a rapid pace (see UN 2007), the benefits of maintaining existing wetlands (and perhaps creating specific treatment wetlands) should make this a national priority for both environmental and socio-economic sustainability. Third, as habitats, wetlands provide permanent homes for many species and seasonal homes and nesting areas for a large percentage of the world’s waterfowl. Throughout much of the world, wetlands are crucial habitats for all manner of aquatic species, and they serve as critical feeding areas and nurseries for fish and for other animals living both in adjacent bodies of water and on land. The unique vegetation of wetlands not only relies on these habi - tats for its survival but also contributes to the functions described above, particularly fostering primary production and aiding in filtering and cleaning polluted waters. Additionally, both observable and microscopic species from wetland ecosystems are crucial in wider food chains for both animals and people. Finally, in terms of socio-economic functions, wetlands support activi - ties and industries involving fishing, hunting, and gathering vegetation or timber; but they are also the principal ecosystems in which many people live throughout the world. Though Turkey is presently lacking any examples of

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 52 Kyle T. Evered communities that depend intensively on wetlands (like the traditional paddy- farming societies of Southeast Asia, or the Marsh Arabs of Iraq), wetlands are an integral part of many communities’ ecological livelihoods, either directly or indirectly (on cultural and ecological dimensions of Turkish wetlands through time, and their links to contemporary conservation goals, see Ari Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 2001; see also Özesmi 1999). We even see wetlands emerging increasingly as tourist destinations—adding to their economic value (see Mercer 1990). In Turkey, several wetlands have touristic potential, thanks to their own attrac - tions but also to their proximity to other places that international tourists visit or pass. Prime examples include Kuş Cenneti (“Bird Paradise”) at Lake Manyas (or Kuş Gölü, “Bird Lake”) in Balıkesir and Sultan Sazlığı (“Sultan Marshes”) in Kayseri province; both sites historically boasted hundreds of bird species (including varieties of flamingos and pelicans). Among major problems that wetlands contend with, however, is the fail - ure of societies to recognize these properties and functions as virtues—a situ - ation as common in Turkey as in many developed states of the world. Threats to Wetlands in Turkey and Beyond

For most of recorded history, wetlands were regarded as wastelands if not bogs of treachery, mires of despair, homes of pests, and refuges for outlaw and rebel. A good wetland was a drained wetland free of this mixture of dubious social factors (Larson and Kusler 1979, qtd. in Mitsch and Gosselink 2007, 288).

There are many risks or threats to wetlands—whether from drainage or pollution by agriculture, industry, or residential areas; from diversions of water sources; or from other activities (see contributions to Williams 1990a, esp. Gosselink and Maltby 1990; see also Moser, Prentice, and Frazier 1998)—but perhaps the most useful way to begin to address threats to wetlands is to take advantage of political ecology’s post-structural turn and examine how wetlands are perceived and (de)valued by societies. Despite wetlands’ unique attributes and functions, modern societies have only recently begun to appreciate them as integral and necessary parts of water - sheds 2 that have innate virtues and make tangible contributions to both envi - ronment and society (even scholars seemed to recognize their importance at a late stage; see Williams 1991). One of the first texts to convey this lesson to a Waterlogged Wealth wider audience was Edward Maltby’s (1986). However, even among scholars and environmentalists, we note that this high regard for wetlands is a relatively recent phenomena—just in the past 30 to 40 years. Though written before the wider advent of critical theory in contemporary scholarship, the passage quoted above addresses well the culturally based antagonisms that wetlands (and their advocates) have had to contend with. Postmodern Employing post-structural literary analysis, Rod Giblett’s

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur 53

Wetlands (1996) was one of the first works to deal head-on with the public- relations problem that wetlands endured. Though sometimes even amusing Swamp Thing (note, e.g., the comic-book character in the introduction to Mitsch and Gosselink 2007), many societal reactions to various species and environments are conditioned by prevailing socio-cultural norms that repre - Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 sent serious impediments to environmental conservation. This problem is especially pronounced when we consider how large (and potentially cuddly— if animated, in anthropomorphic form) megafauna are privileged in attracting the environmental goals of a broader public. Indeed, would the World Wildlife Fund be so well received if its mascot were an insect or a reptile, rather than a giant panda? A “wetland as wasteland” discourse is also embedded in the mythologies of the formative Turkish nation-state. Turkey’s greatest symbolic statement of geopolitical significance was the construction of Ankara as a capital—a national hearth—for the nascent republic. This narrative—much like the narrative of forging an American nation through the establishment of Washington, D.C.—involved overcoming nature as found at society’s fron - tiers, in what was then “the West” for the United States, and an interior Anatolian frontier for Turkey. In both instances, new capitals were built on “reclaimed” wetlands—stories of struggle that are integrated into the nation- states’ mythologies (on Ankara’s establishment specifically, see Evered 2008). Indeed, forward capitals of other emerging nations were established on similarly soft ground, such as St. Petersburg in Tsarist Russia. Though it is tempting to omit recognition of the dangers or hazards some - times posed by wetlands (or by people settling too close to them), we should acknowledge that there is some basis for these sentiments. Indeed, in early republican Turkey, major public-health initiatives emerged to address malaria, and part of this mission to build both healthy bodies and a healthy nation involved draining wetlands (see Tekeli and İlkin 1999; Evered and Evered 2011). In this respect, the Turkish nation-state’s public-health-based assault on wetlands was not dissimilar from other experiences of wetland drainage asso - ciated with malaria in Egypt, Mandate-era Palestine, and other modern Middle Easte countries and territories (see, e.g., Mitchell 2002; Sufian 2007). The “wetland as wasteland” discourse has deep cultural roots even in many languages around the world. In English, for example, many terms for wetlands are used in metaphors for unfavorable conditions or settings: to be bogged down mired quagmire morass or —or to find oneself in a or a —is to be in a situation that is muddled (another synonym), confused, or inescapable. Alternative images evoke contexts that are dreary, gloomy, or hindered by depression. While studying Turkish as a graduate student, I was surprised to find that Turkish words for wetlands carry similar connotations. While at the National Library in Ankara, I was delighted to find an older text with the word bataklık (“swamp” or “wetland”) in the title; when I requested it, and as I

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 54 Kyle T. Evered awaited its arrival, I hoped it would reveal late Ottoman or early republican attitudes toward wetlands. Instead I encountered the same metaphorical “wetlands” found in English; the book turned out to express the author’s “mired” (i.e., depressed) perspectives on life and the world.

While some problems of negative attitudes toward or ignorance of Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 wetlands may be corrected by raising awareness, we must also acknowledge long-standing traditions in many societies that translate the “wetland as wasteland” metaphor into opportunity and profitability. Just as developers throughout the United States have invested in wetlands in order to drain and replace them with profitable projects (see, e.g., Pittman and Waite 2010; Gardner 2011), Turkey has also seen instances in which imperatives for economic development—and individual profit—have overshadowed wetlands’ long-term and collective benefits. Though we would like to imag - ine all branches of a state collaborating as responsible stewards of such ecosystems, such responsible conduct—both in the United States and in Turkey—is often elusive. When wetlands are lost, the consequences can be severe—environmen - tally and economically. In environmental terms, species loss from wetland destruction can have cascading effects throughout food chains. In addition to the costs of loss in terms of the above-noted functions for the environment and society, loss of wetlands also creates particular risks for human societies. Indeed, one reason the 2005 Hurricane Katrina–related flooding of New Orleans was so devastating was that many of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands were destroyed at an alarming rate over the preceding century (on this history see Colten 2005). Wetland degradation and destruction thus creates apprecia - ble geographies of risk. Geographies of Conservation and Turkey’s Wetlands

Given the prevalent socio-cultural attitudes toward wetlands, ignorance about wetlands’ functions and values, and over-riding priorities for development observable throughout much of the world, it is not surprising that many initia - tives promoting wetland conservation were not initially motivated by concerns about the wetlands themselves. Indeed, as revealed in many envi - ronmental histories from the United States, conservation often stemmed from concerns for species within the wetlands and the desires of hunters. Waterfowl management and conservation was a major reason for many who began to regard wetlands as sites of significance, and these hunters were later joined by birdwatchers and environmentalists. Awareness of wetlands as critical habi - tats thus arose in the latter half of the 20th century, when people began to recognize that most ongoing species loss was not from over-hunting but from habitat loss (the significance of ecosystems as integral to contemporary defi - nitions of biological diversity was affirmed especially in the 1992 Convention

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur 55 on Biological Diversity; CBD 1992). Based on saving wetlands to save birds, a major impulse for wetland conservation arose globally, which included Turkey (though beyond the leader - ships of modern states and environmental movements, many actors at local scales throughout the world were engaged in preserving wetlands through their Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 own day-to-day ecologies). At this global scale, momentum emerged officially with the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, signed in the city of Ramsar, in the Caspian Sea region of Iran. Today, this international agreement is referred to by most as the Convention on Wetlands, the Ramsar Convention, or simply Ramsar (also denoting the organization). In effect as of 1975, the convention and contracting member states pledged to establish a listing of wetlands of international impor - tance (often known as the “Ramsar list”; for current listing see Ramsar 2011b). Initially only a few countries participate, but there are now 160 signatory coun - tries, with a total of 1 970 sites globally (as of December 2011) and a global area totalling 190 737 829 ha (Ramsar 2011a). Administratively based in Gland, Switzerland, the Ramsar Convention publishes core documents and informa - tional and outreach materials online 3 and is quite accessible throughout much of the world today—not only for scholars and officials but also for those inter - ested in protecting the wetlands of their home communities. Viewed histori - cally, from the early 1970s, the Ramsar Convention’s significance endures, both because it was the first such international effort geared toward the conservation and protection of any ecosystem type—not just the conservation of a particular species—and because it continues to expand. Functioning solely on the basis of pledges from member states, with no punitive authority, the Ramsar Convention operates today by advocating for wetlands, for the sustainability of associated ecologies and development prac - tices, and for the promotion of wetland awareness. Though the convention lacks regulatory functions, its definition of wetlands has become the international standard—much as the NRC definition has become the nation-scale standard for most within the United States. According to the Ramsar Convention’s defi - nition, wetlands are “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres” (Ramsar 1994, art. 1.1). An additional mechanism for promoting the protection of Ramsar sites is the Montreux Record. Also lacking any means of enforcing compliance, Ramsar’s Montreux Record identifies the most endangered sites based on submissions of site names from member countries. In this manner, it functions as a means for nation-states to promote awareness of and attract assistance for wetland protection. As of September 2011, the Montreux Record listed only 48 sites (32 others had been listed but were later removed; Ramsar 2011c); Turkey has yet to nominate any of its sites. Because inclusion of sites on both the

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 56 Kyle T. Evered

Ramsar list and the Montreux Record is voluntary for each state, motivations for inclusion (beyond national leaders’ obvious commitments to wetland ecosystems and/or waterfowl) may vary greatly by state and site. It is often assumed that, in Turkey’s case, an added incentive for participation in projects such as Ramsar derives from national leaders’ desires to expedite their own Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 political objectives (e.g., the EU accession process). Though Turkey continued to advocate its wetland-draining policies at the nation-state scale for decades after the establishment of the republic, it started to establish the formal groundwork for participating in agreements like Ramsar as early as the 1980s. Prior to this point, there were only isolated examples of formal conservation: in 1938, the 64-ha area known as Kuş Cenneti (“Bird Paradise”) was designated as protected; by 1959, Kuş Cenneti was declared a national park. In addition, on 20 February 1984 the Turkish government added its signa - ture to the 1979 Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, effectively agreeing to protect wildlife species and their natural habitats (TC 1984). At the June 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Turkish state accepted the principles proclaimed in the Declaration on Environment and Development and pledged to abide by the Convention of Biological Diversity (see CBD 1992). 4 Each of these agreements had clear implications for conserving and protecting wetlands and wetland species from the excesses of development. On 11 January 1993, in preparation for Turkey’s entrance into Ramsar, the government passed and the prime minister signed Circular 1 (TC 1993a), amending Turkey’s existing environmental legislation (TC 1983). The circular effectively banned any manner of development that might harm wetlands, stip - ulating that all operational development projects must cease and comply with the same impact assessments now required for all new projects. On 19 July, Lake Burdur was designated as a site of particular significance by the Ministry of Forestry, and on 30 December it was announced within Turkey that the state would list sites with Ramsar (TC 1993b). By 13 July 1994, Turkey declared its nomination of five sites as wetlands of international importance. Effective 13 November 1994, Lake Burdur was confirmed as a Ramsar listing; it remains listed as Turkey’s largest site thus far. Table 1 lists Turkey’s initial five sites and subsequent sites, by date of designation; today there are 13 sites in total, cover - ing 179 898 ha (Ramsar 2011a). During much of this period, when Turkey appeared to be adopting a pro- wetland agenda, the government was led by coalitions headed by Süleyman Demirel, both as prime minister (1991–1993) and as president (1993–2000). Corresponding with the republic’s development of environmental and water resource agendas, Demirel’s own political career was based in water-resource governance. Trained as a civil engineer, he worked with irrigation and dam projects in the post–World War II era, eventually moving from technical

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TABLE 1 Turkish wetlands listed with the Ramsar Convention (Ramsar 2011b, 38) Date Wetland Site Surface Area Province(s) Coordinates Designated 13 July 1994 Göksu Delta 15 000 ha Mersin 36º18N 033º58E Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 13 July 1994 Lake Burdur 24 800 ha Burdur, 37º44N 030º11E Isparta 13 July 1994 Lake Ku 20 400 ha Balıkesir 40º12N 028º00E (Manyas) 13 July 1994 Lake Seyfe 10 700 ha Kırehir 39º12N 034º25E 13 July 1994 Sultan Marshes 17 200 ha Kayseri 38º20N 035º17E 15 Apr. 1998 Akyatan Lagoon 14 700 ha Adana 36º37N 035º16E 15 Apr. 1998 Gediz Delta 14 900 ha Izmir Gulf 38º30N 026º55E 15 Apr. 1998 Kızılırmak Delta 21 700 ha Samsun 41º40N 036º05E 15 Apr. 1998 Lake Uluabat 19 900 ha Bursa 40º10N 028º35E 21 July 2005 Meke Maar / 202 ha Konya 37°41N 033°38E Meke Crater Lake 21 July 2005 Yumurtalık 19 853 ha Adana 36°42N 035°38E Lagoons 2 May 2006 Kızören Obrouk 127 ha Konya 38°20N 033°20E management positions to political appointments that culminated with his direc - torship of Turkey’s State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). As prime minister during the 1992 Rio Conference and as president during Turkey’s entry into Ramsar, he was in a pivotal position to shape and direct Turkish environmental policies during the post–Cold War years. Indeed, attending the Eleventh Annual World Forestry Conference in Antalya as president in October 1997, Demirel seemed to acknowledge the present state of environmental affairs in his own country and in the world, even observing that “Turkish forests and wetlands are also home to a great variety of species, some of which are considered among the endangered categories.… Let us join our forces in promoting international solidarity for a greener world” (Demirel 1997). Thus, at the international and nation-state scales, it appeared that Turkey and its leadership had reached particular benchmarks with regard to the environment in general, and to wetlands in particular. If we examine the course of events at the nation-state and subordinate scales, however, alternative narratives emerge, and we can see that conflicting priorities were at play. This was particularly true of the mid-1990s case of Lake Burdur and its wetlands, and it is a conflict between environment and development that endures in the post- Demirel (i.e., AKP-led) era as well. Political Ecologies of Burdur’s Wetlands and the White-Headed Duck

Situated in Turkey’s lakes region, Lake Burdur is the country’s sixth-largest

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 58 Kyle T. Evered lake and was included among Turkey’s first five Ramsar sites because of its unique features. While the greater part of the lake is located administratively within Burdur province, a small portion of the lake and its shores is located in the neighbouring Isparta province. Despite its Ramsar listing, recent histories of Lake Burdur’s protected designation and associated controversies over Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 adjacent developments make it an ideal case for examining the multi-scalar political ecologies of wetlands in contemporary Turkey. As seen through data from environmental groups, Turkish media, court records, and ongoing ethnographic fieldwork, mid-1990s legal struggles over Lake Burdur’s status, subsequent developments, and the perspectives of local inhabitants convey a great deal about the status not only of this wetland but of others throughout Turkey as well. Like most bodies of water that are located in enclosed basins, Lake Burdur’s waters are brackish, though generally closer to the freshwater end of the salinity spectrum. Basin systems are also quite vulnerable to pollution, as they have no ability to “flush out” contaminants. Lake Burdur was tradition - ally fed by underground sources, streams (notably the Bayındır, Bozçay, Buğduz, Kara Çerçin, Keçiborlu, and Ulupınar), and washes, but a number of the surface water sources no longer reach the lake—or their flow is greatly reduced or intermittent as a result of diversions. In many cases, diversions from these tributaries are intentional, associated with state-led schemes to marshal available water resources. Though water still reaches the lake from some streams and from seasonal spillways, the overall reduction in the volume of water arriving at the lake means that inflow does not fully compen - sate for evaporation; the result is a significant trend of shrinking shorelines, a diminished volume of water, and marked increases in salinity over the past three to four decades. The distinctive features that led to Lake Burdur’s inclusion among Turkey’s first five Ramsar sites Turkey primarily reflect the lake’s past and present role as a habitat for unique species. Though its brackish waters mostly limit aquatic species to varieties of zooplankton and other small organisms, one fish species is endemic to Lake Burdur. Small but economically insignif - Aphanius burduricus icant, is a member of the Cyprinodontidae family and in 1996 was listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List (WCMC 1996). In addition to numerous amphib - ians, reptiles, and small mammals that live around the lake, Lake Burdur is the seasonal home of roughly 300 000 wintering waterfowl each year (Ramsar 2009). Of the waterfowl species that live at Lake Burdur seasonally or year- Oxyura leucocephala round, the most noted is the white-headed duck, (see Figure 1). Also listed as endangered on the IUCN’s Red List (BirdLife International 2008), the white-headed duck is believed to have had a world population exceeding 100 000 at the beginning of the 20th century, but its

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FIGURE 1 Commemorative stamps featuring the white-headed duck, Oxyura leucocephala (at left), issued on World Environment Day, June 2000 (scanned from author’s collection) numbers had declined to roughly 19 000 by 1991. Throughout the early 1990s, the estimated number ranged between 7 910 and 13 100 (a level still maintained by BirdLife International 2011—though the figures on their species fact sheet have not been updated for at least six years). Roughly 70% of the world’s population of white-headed ducks wintered at Lake Burdur as late as the 1990s (a figure still cited on the Ramsar list), but alternative sources list the number of wintering ducks at a far lower number—suggesting perhaps just 1 000 ducks by 2000 (Kurt et al. 2002, qtd. in Hughes et al. 2006, 21). 5 Given the unique status of the duck and apparent shifts toward environmen - tal protection at the nation-state and international scales, we might expect the duck’s numbers to hold steady or increase (assuming that there are no losses beyond Turkey—something that we cannot assume). At the local to nation- state scales, however, we also observe negative trends that further marginal - ize the presence of the white-headed duck at Lake Burdur and the overall quality of the lake’s wetland ecosystems. To better understand this specific situation—and to derive an apprecia - tion for wider challenges to wetland protection in Turkey—we can derive insight from the circumstances of Lake Burdur’s designation and associated controversies and attitudes. To move in this direction, we need to shift scales beyond the lake and even the province to examine nation-state trends and interprovincial dynamics. In the recent history of Turkey’s political economy, from the early 1990s (or even the 1980s) to the present, we see a period of shifts in industry and economic activity, though there were definite delays— even setbacks—following the West’s first war in Iraq). Geographically, this

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 60 Kyle T. Evered period of sectoral shifts from state-led to private enterprise also corresponded with the emergence of so-called Anatolian Tigers. Functioning as regional poles of industrialization and commerce, these “tigers” began to diminish the singularity that was centred in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir throughout most of the republic’s history (on the “Anatolian Tigers,” from various perspectives, Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 see Demir, Acar, and Toprak 2004; Hosgör 2011). Amid this transition, a good measure of excitement among entrepreneurs, leaders of Anatolia’s previously marginalized urban centres, and nation-state leaders contributed to the state’s promotion and encouragement of development in a number of provinces. In addition to the cities that we now consider “tigers” (especially Denizli, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Balıkesir, Konya, and Kahramanmaraş), other peripheral centres also attempted to position themselves in this manner. Though Burdur was realistically not among this group of third-tier urban centres aspiring to achieve “tiger” status, its neighbour Isparta did pursue “tiger” standing. Isparta lacked some of the features that enabled other Anatolian tigers to advance, but it did have one advantage—especially relative to Burdur: Isparta is the home province of Süleyman Demirel. Isparta’s ambitious plans included a university, an airport, and an industrial park; each of these devel - opments, as well as others, were later named for Demirel. During the early 1990s, then, as we saw Lake Burdur moving toward protected status nationally and internationally, there was momentum toward economic (especially industrial) development taking place at its immediate periphery. On 6 February 1992, various administrative offices of Isparta selected a site within the Lake Burdur basin for the construction of an indus - trial park. Located just north-east of the lake along the area’s major highway, in the vicinity of the Isparta communities of Gümüşgün, Koçtepe, and Gölbaşı, and just within Isparta’s provincial boundaries, this development was envisioned to occupy roughly 200 ha (the projected area would increase to roughly 300 ha over the coming years), house roughly 160 factories, and provide jobs for up to 20 000 people, according to the three-page report that announced this proposal and subsequent plans. Despite regulations on selec - tion of industrial sites, the scheme overlooked compliance and noted a rela - tive lack of alternative locations for development. This decision also became a rallying point for various actors opposed to the industrial park and/or its anticipated site. As a contentious situation arose over the lake, however, vari - ous actors came together at the same (especially nation-state judicial) scale to make common cause—but sometimes with very different motivations. Among actions taken by several of the opposed parties was the submis - sion of a petition to the Sixth Division of the Turkish Council of State on 25 January 1994. The petition presented arguments against the proposed devel - opment in Gümüşgün—especially because it was so near the protected lake and within the ecologically vulnerable basin. The case claimed that the project jeopardized the lake itself—one of Turkey’s natural treasures—as well as its

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) Political Ecologies of Turkey’s Wetlands and Lake Burdur 61 habitat potential, and both wild and endangered animals (especially water - fowl) that depended on the lake as a regular or seasonal home. The filing also contended that this particular site was especially inappropriate because of the potential for ecological disturbance and air and water pollution in the enclosed basin; the fact that the lake already was not receiving adequate Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 water, and that any industrial developments would further strain the ecosys - tem; the fact that the prime minister’s endorsement of the park contradicted other signed documents protecting the lake and its wetlands (as listed above); the international recognition of the lake as a wetland of significance; the fact that the Turkish state was a signatory to a number of national and international agreements either stipulating or implying the area’s protection; 6 and the very specific matter of the lake’s being home to an endemic species of fish and the major seasonal home for the white-headed duck. Furthermore, it was noted that there was no record of an impact assessment for the site, that opposition had also been voiced within other government ministries (Agriculture, Tourism, and Culture), and that it had received only a marginal approval— with conditions—from the Ministry of Environment. The petition requested an immediate halt to ongoing plans for the industrial park and recommended a thorough review and impact assessment. In what seemed an act of judicial harassment, developers of the project brought legal suit against the plaintiff in the original case. During a meeting on 15 February 1994, the Council of State decided to halt further development pending expert analysis and assessment. Shortly thereafter, the Prime Ministry submitted an appeal of this decision, which was reviewed on 17 March 1994. The Prime Ministry further articulated its points of endorsement for the project in a letter from 12 April 1994, citing a degree of vagueness on what actions the plaintiff was actually seeking; contending that any expert consultations or impact assessments would impose too severe a time delay, and so construction should proceed; noting that no legitimate interests of the plaintiff were actually affected by the proposed development (a sort of “What’s it to him?” legal argument) and that any discrepancies in the filings for site approval resulted essentially from mere oversight at local levels (clearly implying that there were no improprieties, particularly on the part of the Prime Ministry); asserting that the case itself was inappropriately forwarded for review, and should therefore be dismissed with no delays; and, finally, declaring boldly that these very administrative proceedings seeking review and accountability actually violated the law, and that Lake Burdur and the natural environment were in no way at risk. In support of this appeal, the Prime Ministry forwarded a letter from the Ministry of Environment on 25 April 1994. While the forwarded docu - ment acknowledged the significance of Lake Burdur as a wetland and water - fowl habitat—and restated its commitment to the Ramsar Convention, it also contended that the Isparta industrial park site had been chosen after

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 62 Kyle T. Evered appropriate review of alternative locations and that it saw no problems with the scheme, so long as DSİ monitored water withdrawals and there were assurances that no heavy industries would be sited in the park. When the parties to the case returned to court on 7 July 1994, the plain - tiff brought forward even more compelling evidence from expert witnesses Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 and consultants. Targeting the inadequacies of the project in terms of its prob - lems with (or simply a lack of) site assessment and review, its risks to water supplies in the basin, its potential marginalization of critical wetland habitats for endangered species, the risks of locating industries in this geologically active region (the Burdur area has a history of earthquakes, the most notable having occurred in 1971), and the likelihood of pollution in the area, the plain - tiff might be said to have presented an even more powerful case against the scheme than that offered prior to the February 1994 decision to halt develop - ment. Despite this evidence—and what some might construe as a conflict of interest on the part of those defending the project—late in 1994 the develop - ment received legal sanction to proceed as planned. Like many industrial park development schemes in the United States, however, the park in Isparta was built without assuring full occupancy. While a number of light industries occupied space on its premises, it has clearly been functioning below capacity. Much the same can be said of the adjacent airport. The Süleyman Demirel Airport also created controversies associated with its construction, given not only environmental but also safety considerations with respect to flying and landing aircraft over a lake noted for its bird popu - Milliyet lations—risks that continue to be a concern ( 2011a). At the time, Turkish journalist Hülya Aydoğan wrote an article titled “Ya İnsanlar, Ya Ördekler Uçacak” (“either people or ducks will fly”—but not both; Aydoğan 1994). The airport development was approved in a similar fashion to the industrial park. In an article titled “Şeriatın Kestiği Ördekler” (roughly, “The Ducks Cut by the Law”), Turkish journalist Derya Sazak observed how Demirel simultaneously seemed both to gloat over the ruling and to attempt to put the matter to rest. Commenting on judicial approval to move ahead with the airport, Demirel declared, “Şeriatın kestiği parmak acımaz” (“the finger severed by the law does not hurt”—a common expression in Turkish that conveys the sanctity of legal rulings as much as it seems to promote resolu - tion; Sazak 1994). Though closed for some time after its initial opening (in association with the short-lived Rose Air), the airport has since resumed oper - ations with flights from the Turkish airline AtlasJet. Since the 1990s, Lake Burdur and its wetland ecosystems have continued to endure degradation and desiccation, and the nation-state has continued to evade proactive stewardship—notwithstanding efforts by Burdur’s governor Milliyet to frame the lake’s circumstances as a national problem ( 2011b). Despite processes of climate change, representatives from one of Turkey’s foremost environmental groups claimed just prior to the 2009 World Water

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Forum, hosted in Istanbul, that the state was the real culprit in the diminish - ing state of Turkey’s water resources. Identifying DSİ above all, they noted that improper management of irrigation and failure to protect lakes and wetlands in Turkey had thus far contributed to a loss of lakes totalling the size Milliyet of the Sea of Marmara ( 2009). Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 On 1 February 2010, in response to Ramsar’s approaching International Wetlands Day (observed annually on 2 February), Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry trivialized concerns about the country’s wetlands by declaring that since Anatolia has well over 300 wetlands, claims of disap - Cumhuriyet pearance or degradation “do not reflect reality” ( 2010). On 1 February 2011, as if responding to this specific (and pre-emptive) pronounce - ment, the general director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) declared that Turkey’s wetlands are “threatened” and that, although Turkey signed on to Ramsar almost two decades ago to protect (eventually) just 13 wetlands, it has not yet demonstrated adequate protective action with respect to these or any other sites within the country. He further noted deteriorations in the legal status of wetlands in Turkey, particularly as a result of an August 2010 amend - ment to the law that placed tributaries to wetlands beyond the state’s protec - tive mandate. In short, since this provision’s enactment, only the discrete sites of designated wetlands have been protected; development projects that compromise only their tributaries are no longer held liable for the obvious Cumhuriyet damage and degradation that they inflict ( 2011a). Environmentalism or Local Rivalries: Sentiments in Burdur and Isparta

After reviewing court documents from the Lake Burdur case in the mid- 1990s, I first travelled to the area as a graduate student in the late 1990s. I anticipated some measure of activism to be lingering at a local level—if only in the form of monitoring the projects for pollution. Indeed, these projects clearly seemed to represent a central Anatolian case of NIMBY 7 that enabled Isparta to enjoy its industrial park and its airport while Lake Burdur and its wetlands (and the residents of Burdur) seemed to incur the environmental costs. Both in the survey-based and ethnographic interviews I conducted and in the day-to-day discussions that I enjoyed, then and since (I return to village communities surrounding Burdur and Isparta on an almost annual basis to research the agro-ecologies of Turkey’s wider lakes region), there was (and is) a pervasive level of detachment from particular environmental issues actually taking place within Burdur and in villagers’ own nearby communities. This represents a marked contrast with environmental concerns over other issues that seemed to have a more immediate bearing upon residents’ livelihoods (especially those relating to water availability and soil quality and degradation). In fact, the more I conducted surveys and interviews within the wider community of Burdur, the more it became

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 64 Kyle T. Evered evident that many would have welcomed the same developments—had they been situated in Burdur and not in Isparta. Indeed, there were already some industries functioning in the city of Burdur and at its periphery, and concern among city inhabitants about their environmental impacts was minimal to non-existent. Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Moreover, in the surrounding communities, traditions of hunting and of grazing up to the water’s edge seemed to continue as they had prior to the posting of the Ramsar signs (though possibly less noticeably if people antic - gendarme ipated a visit from local officials or a routine patrol by the ). While environmentalist sentiments likely did exist among some small proportion of the local populace in the city—and likely a far greater proportion during the actual litigation—more often I encountered sentiments of resentment. As one farmer exclaimed, “We’re the same as Isparta, but they get all the bene - fits. We grow just as many roses, but they get the factories and all the prof - its”—assertions that do not bear up under closer scrutiny. In questioning people further about the lake, the wetlands, and its ecological significance, I found extremely low levels of awareness. Thus the image of international, national, and local activists coming together to confront environmental injustices was something of an invention in the accounts that I had read prior to actually spending time in the area (Evered 2003, 2004). One of two significant exceptions to this lack of awareness involved my discussions and interactions with local children in the city’s schools. Having been invited to the local schools by one of the directors to speak English with their English classes during my first visit to Burdur, I was able to spend several days talking with area youth. In my short conversation with a provin - cial environmental official in his office, I was told that the lake was in good shape—improving, even—and that the ducks arrive each winter as they always have. When I spoke with the children, however, they exclaimed that they no longer see so many ducks when they play by the water, and they continued from this observation to relate more information. Discussing the state of the lake, one student in the classroom noted that his older siblings once swam in it, but that he and his friends could not, because of the skin irri - tations that they experience. Other students concurred, noting that it was the same with their older siblings or parents. This suspicion of the lake seems to have endured up to the present, with some level of growing concern. Despite the local governor’s encouragement of a sailing team, one of the coaches noted that, amid such concerns, it is difficult to recruit children because of their parents’ trepidation about their swimming in the lake. The second exception that I should acknowledge, in terms of what I perceived to be a general lack of awareness about environmental issues in the area, was observed when I spoke with local farmers. Although most agricul - turalists I encountered were unaware of accepted scientific facts regarding wetlands, ecosystems, and biological diversity—the sort of information that

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I acquired in school—I found them keenly aware of the ecologies and envi - ronmental matters pertaining to their own crops, livestock, and fields.. On these immediate matters of agriculture and livelihood, area residents were abundantly aware of the ongoing impacts of water scarcity and processes of soil erosion. Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Beyond the Duck: Summary and Conclusions

Initiating a political ecology study on wetlands and environmental struggles in modern Turkey, I readily engaged with these questions so long as I limited my work to documents and informants operative at the scales of international organizations or of national-level environmental groups. When I pursued this line of inquiry to the communities in question, however, I found that environ - mental politics at the local city scale had far more to do with a particular poli - tics of resentment than with the sort of “liberation ecologies” that I had naïvely imagined I might encounter. In pursuit of questions focused on the conservation of the white-headed duck, I was instead confronted by global- and nation-scale opposition to what court records seemed to reveal were/are privileged and entrenched interests, on the one hand, and local-scale grudges and antipathies, on the other. In both instances, however, the struggle against unrestrained development found common cause, and scales shifted in ways that produced broader, integrated narratives that made it seem as though all parties opposed to Isparta’s developments were championing the cause of the white-headed duck. Where the potential for so-called liberation ecologies does seem to lie, however, is among the informed. In the context of Turkey, as in many soci - eties, we may note that (apart from environmentalists) some of the greatest potential advocates for the environment and ecological sustainability can be found among rural, agrarian workers—and among younger generations. Whether for the sake of preserving wetlands or for advancing other environ - mental causes, the imperative both for environmental education and for forg - ing connections with other interest groups is apparent. In recent developments concerning Lake Burdur, emphasis has shifted beyond the white-headed duck to what may forge a more enduring common ground: the lake itself. Indeed, the lake continues to attract extra-regional support—even (and most recently) from Turkish pop icon Tarkan. Partnering with the environmental organiza - tion Doğa Derneği to promote the cause of Lake Burdur, the singer has stated that people have been “bystanders” as other lakes recently disappeared (e.g., Akşehir Gölü and Tuz Gölü), but that there is still hope for Lake Burdur Hürriyet ( 2011)—a sentiment also articulated by Burdur’s governor Milliyet ( 2011b). A broader assessment of the situation facing Lake Burdur Göl Yoksa Burdur da appears in a book published by Doğa Derneği (2011), Yok! (roughly, “If there is no lake, there is no Burdur!”). In the current context

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 15, no 1 (2012) 66 Kyle T. Evered of climate change and diminishing supplies of freshwater resources, one in which people discuss the “many little Aral Seas” of Anatolia, concern has shifted from species survival to ecosystem survival. Given current trends, Doğa Derneği speculates that Lake Burdur itself faces “extinction” by 2040 Cumhuriyet ( 2011b). Under these circumstances, distant environmentalists Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/15/1/45/1448654/arwg_15_1_x01264137077p8n7.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 and the large proportion of the local population who still rely on the natural environment for their livelihood may find more enduring common cause.

Notes 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual conference of the Middle East Studies Association, 18–21 November 2006, Boston, Massachusetts. Panel participants aided by contributing to this article, though all remaining errors are mine. 2 According to 19th-century scientist and explorer John Wesley Powell, a water - shed is “that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community” (US EPA). 3 See http://www.ramsar.org/. 4 More generally, see http://www.cbd.int/. 5 More broadly, the negative trends for Lake Burdur’s white-headed duck popula - tion seem consistent with trends for bird populations throughout the country. In 2010, for example, İlhami Kiziroğlu, a professor at Hacettepe University, indi - cated that over the past 20 years Turkey’s bird populations decreased by 50%, and for certain species the figure is closer to 75%. With specific reference to Lake Burdur, he further noted that pollution from industrialization and construction of Milliyet the airport around the lake radically changed its ecosystem ( 2011a). 6 For examples, the above-mentioned 1979 Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats; Turkey’s 1992 participation in and signature to documents emanating from the Rio Earth Summit; the January 1993 circular banning new (and requiring termination of ongoing) development projects situated on or near wetlands (TC 1993a); the Ministry of Forests’ July 1993 designation of Burdur as a protected waterfowl site; the December 1993 statute indicating the state’s intent to enter into the Ramsar Convention (TC 1993b); and the Turkey’s 1994 entrance into the Ramsar Convention. 7 The expression “NIMBY” (not in my backyard) is commonly used in discussing the politics of situating disamenities (e.g., industrial parks, airports, prisons, waste-treatment facilities) away from one’s own neighbourhood and in the neigh - bourhoods of those less able to resist, whether in one’s own city, in other cities, or—if we think globally—in other countries).

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