Ecological Destruction

Ahmet Dursun KAHRAMAN

TMMOB

Chamber of Environmental Engineers

Chairman of the Board

14.01.1960

Karşıyaka Boys' High School, 1978

DEU Faculty of Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, BS, 1982

DEU Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Environmental Technology, M.Sc., 1984

AU, Department of Photography and Cinematography, 2013

AU, Department of Philosophy, ongoing.

Throughout his career, he worked on wastewater treatment and treatment sludge drying.

He enriched his photography hobby, which has been going on for many years, with the organization of " Taraklı Photography Meeting and Photomarathon" and similar photography events, exhibition openings, photography awards and photography trainings.

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Kazım ÇAPACI

I was born in 1967 in Izmir. I work as a faculty member at Ege University Faculty of Medicine. I am the deputy director of EU Disabled Children and Rehabilitation Education Park Research and Application Center. I continue my academic studies with children with various disabilities.

I have been observing wildlife, especially birds, for years. In recent years I have become interested in arthropods (insects and spiders) and flowers as well as birds. For this reason, my macro lens, macro flash and close-up filters started to take place in addition to my tele lens that I use for birds.

My photographs have been published many times in various magazines such as National Geographic, National Geographic Kids, Bilim Teknik, Bilim Çocuk, Skylife, and in various books on nature conservation. The books I translated, Birds of Turkey and the Middle East, Shore Birds, and Bird Watcher's Pocket Book, which I prepared for publication, were published and offered for sale.

I voluntarily give lectures, interviews and presentations on photography in various institutions such as Izmir Medical Chamber, Faculty of Medicine, and nature associations.

In 2016, I successfully graduated from Anadolu University AÖF Photography and Cameraman Department, which is my second university.

I am a member of Izmir Photography Art Association (IFOD).

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Tansu GÜRPINAR

He graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Science, Department of Natural Sciences (Geology, Botany, Zoology) in 1964. He worked as an expert and manager in the National Parks, Wildlife and Environmental Issues units of the Ministry of Forestry. Since its establishment (1978), he worked in the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat of Environment. He has served in various departments. He retired from the Ministry of Environment in 1966. In the same year, he won the United Nations “Global 500” environmental award.

Between 1996 and 2004, he was the Ankara Representative of the Natural Life Protection Association, of which he was one of the founders. Between 2001 and 2002, he worked as the General Manager of WWF Turkey (World Wildlife Fund) and Natural Life Protection Association in Istanbul. He left his active duties since 2004 due to a health problem.

During his public duties for more than thirty years, he was involved in studies on the protection of nature. Protection of birds and wetlands, identification and planning of national parks and equivalent nature protection areas, and rescue of endangered wild animals were among the main efforts of Gürpınar. The developments he made in Kuşcenneti National Park, while he was its manager, ensured that this area was awarded with the "European Diploma" by the Council of Europe in 1976, which was awarded to exceptional places where conservation was successful. During his duties at the Ministry of Environment, he focused on holistic conservation studies.

His interest in photography started when he was in secondary school. In parallel with his work for the protection of the natural environment, he focused on nature photography. In addition to contributing to the recognition of the nature of our country with the slide shows he made with the transparency of the nature of our country, he also supported nature conservation studies.

He won various awards, from exhibiting to the "Grand Prix" in the national and international competitions he participated in.

He taught photography. Within this activity that lasted for fifty years, he continued the photography courses he started at the Çankaya Community Center in the late 1960s with a nature photography workshop under the roof of the Photography Art Institute until 2019.

He participated in group photography exhibitions. He opened four solo exhibitions in Istanbul, New York and Ankara. He was among the founders of the Photographic Art Institute and the Turkish Photographic Art Federation. He is currently an honorary member of FSK, AFSAD and SSS.

He has seven published books (Our Streams, Our Wild Plants, Anıtkabir, Folklore of Colors, Trees and Forests, Years with Nature, 50 Years in Seven Lakes) and more than a hundred articles published in various magazines.

He is married, father of one child and grandfather of one grandchild.

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ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION

As it is known, June 5th World Environment Day and the week before it, we consider as the days when we draw attention to ecological destruction, our fight against crimes against the environment and raise our calls for these struggles.

Taking the power of art and photography behind us with this exhibition this year in the Week of Struggling with Ecological Destruction; drawing attention to looting, destruction and threats; we aim to create a memory.

With this power; this year, during the Ecological Destruction Week, from İkizdere, which is on UNESCO's list of 254 valleys to be protected in the world, we extend our support, call and greetings to those who struggle, to Salda lakes, Kaz Mountains, Fırtına Streams, to all areas of struggle against plunder and destruction in the country. We believe we can shout louder.

With this power; with our stance on labor, science and nature, we will strengthen our stance on the side of society and against the policies of destruction pursued for the sake of profit.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed, contributed and watched.

#FightingEcologicalDestructionContinues

Ahmet KAHRAMAN

President of TMMOB Chamber of Environmental Engineers

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June 5, 2021 World Environment Day…

Not a day passes without an environmental issue being reported or heard in the press and in our close circle. Our simple citizen used to say "Environmental Pollution" and perceived it as if this "pollution" would go away when it was cleaned, but today this has turned into destruction. Experts say that unnatural interventions in vital relationships cause this destruction. In other words, the clearest explanation is to end the lives of those who are fighting for their lives with an outside intervention. So who made this intervention? Of course Human, that is us.

"Sea saliva" in Marmara is front of our eyes as a symbol of all our brutality. This is not a natural event, it is a destruction, the death of nature. Those who wonder what will become of Lake Salda, which we proudly compared to the Maldives until yesterday, should look at Lake Meke, Turkey's "Evil Eye Bead". Fırtına Deresi, Kaz Mountains, Ergene Basin, İkizdere are just a few of the places that people have destroyed with their insatiable greed.

As TFSF Management, we wanted to create a visual memory on this subject with a joint exhibition with TMMOB Chamber of Environmental Engineers. With the expressive power of photography, we wanted to draw attention to this destruction with photographs worth thousands of words. We thought that it was our duty of loyalty as a person who lives in this environment with the sensitivity of the artist. A total of 225 photographers, 69 women and 156 men, participated in our exhibition announcement, open to all photography lovers, with 797 works. Our esteemed jury members included 61 photographs among them. We will have a small thank you, consisting of our special documents and photo books, to all our friends who took the time and effort to send their works.

Yes, we are opening this exhibition on the 5th of June, but our heart's desire is "I wish such a destruction did not occur and we were not doing this exhibition" It's still not too late to fix some things...

Best regards

Dr. Sefa Ulukan

Chairman of TFSF Board of Directors