Odd defense from marble company

ANTALYA- Doğan News Agency

Adalya Marble is accused of causing large environmental damage. DHA photo

Adalya Marble, a firm that has been slammed for its nature-damaging quarries in the Mediterranean province of Antalya’s Finike district, has defended itself by saying that the Abu Dhabi Presidential Palace was made from Finike marble.

A prosecutor has also launched an investigation against the firm, which is accused of filling the region’s stream beds with marble waste. In an issued statement, the firm said it had a total of six factories, making exports to 52 countries and providing various services that increased employment.

“Since 2011, we have been providing marbles that cost about $15.5 million to the Mosart Marble and Mosaic firm, for the marble being used in the Abu Dhabi Presidential Palace. The limra marble [used in this work] is obtained from our Antalya-Finike quarry. In 2012, a total of 624 containers costing $7.6 million and about 141,000 square meters of products were sent to the firm, for the marble needs of the Presidential Palace alone,” the statement read.

“The quarries are licensed and we have all the necessary authorization from the General Directorate of Mining Works, the General Directorate of Forestry, the Provincial Environment Directorates and the Special Provincial Administrations,,” the statement added.