Spill over effect of environmental consciousness: The Bergama environmental movement in Turkey

Abstract

This thesis describes and analyses the Bergama environmental movement case in Tuikey that leceived a great attention in Turkish public opinion and interacted with vaiious actois. The Bergama case, which was triggered by the Eurogold company's gold mining opeiation using cyanide, illustrates the struggle of villagers in different forms of piotests and actions. In this study, we present an integrated approach by using two theoiies namely Resource Mobilization (RM) and New Social Movement (NSM) to piovide a comprehensive explanation of the social movement. This analysis indicates that inci easing awareness concerning a variety of issues such as environmental ones can cause people develop their capacity in dealing with problems and organizing actions. Consequently, they were enlightened to stand up for their rights, encouraged to participate in the decision- making process and introduced social and cultiu"al changes in their lives.