Ankara - The Ecology Commission of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) issued a written statement to mark World Water Day, held every year on March 22 since 1993. In the written statement signed by Ecology Commission's Co-spokespeople Menekşe Kızıldere and Naci Sönmez noted that World Water Day is celebrated this year in the shadow of the commercialization of water by states.

The statement emphasizes that the human right to water is a right that must be protected to ensure drinking water for all the citizens and the continuity of ecological assets. “Viewing water assets as a commercial commodity or damaging water assets is a violation of both a human right and a natural right. In 2022, the right to exist of ecological assets will not be able to sustain itself due to states’ policies focusing only on income, growth, and development, without considering the continuity of the systems. Unfortunately, water is still seen as a resource, not an asset, by the states all around the world.”

Mentioning that data released by the Turkish State Meteorological Service from March 2020 to February 2022 in the statement, the commission underlined in the statement that severe drought has spread to 90% of Turkey, 73 provinces, since the beginning of 2022 and that this may cause forest fires again in the summer of 2022. “There is nothing left for the current government to do. The current government should immediately keep hands off water assets and the whole country. As the Peoples' Democratic Party, we remind once again that water is a right and this right is violated by the current government. The best measure to be taken against the climate crisis, water crisis, and drought is the immediate change of the current government,” the statement says.