Don’t let OSB slaughter

There was a strong reaction from industrialists to the proposed law that paved the way for the establishment of an organized industrial zone (OSB) in agricultural and pastoral areas by AKP deputies. Mehmet Akyürek, the founder and still an investor of Anadolu OIZ, described the establishment of OIZ on agricultural and grazing land as a ‘massacre’ at a time when many OIZ were empty. Akyürek, who called for not allowing massacres for the sake of profit, said: “As an industrialist who established an OIZ, I rebel against this regulation. This regulation will completely end the dying agriculture and animal husbandry.” Mehmet Akyürek, who is also the honorary president of the Ostim Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (OSİAD), said that the OIZ law proposal, which was accepted in the Commission Parliamentarian for Industry despite the criticisms and reservations, and taken to the agenda of the general assembly, they will not serve the industrialists, she said that it is necessary to take a good look at who will benefit from this work.

WILL PROVIDE RANT

Stating that according to the data of the Supreme Council of Organized Industrial Zones (OSBÜK), there are 390 OIZ operating throughout the country and that most of them are empty industrial plots, Akyürek warned: the plots already exist. No one has the right to destroy agriculture and livestock and pollute valuable fields by establishing new OIZs in the fields and pastures that are the livelihood of the country while those parcels remain empty. As someone who knows this business well, I say that if this proposal becomes law, there will be a massacre of pastures and fields in the country. Fields and pastures become targets for renters and opportunists.”

‘Very dangerous consequences’

Mehmet Akyürek said that with the proposed law, an urgent expropriation authority will be obtained in the areas where OIZ will be established, and such an authority would have very dangerous consequences. Akyürek said: “When establishing an OIZ, there is no need for a hasty expropriation. If there is a hasty expropriation, there is a hasty rent. While we were establishing the OIZ, we obtained permits for 10 to 15 places, mainly Agriculture, Environment and DSI. When the expropriation is urgent, it is not necessary to obtain permission from anyone. You are taking fields from citizens on the cheap, regardless of the age of whatever a field, pasture, or wetland is.”