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Driller offers illegal well as giant sinkholes scar Turkey's farmland

A French television report connects overnight collapses near Konya with drought and intensive groundwater pumping, then tests how easily another well can be arranged.

Channel: TF1 INFO ·

FranceStory of November 10, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of TF1 INFO's most watched videos since yesterday, with 144,617 views.

TF1 INFO: The news division of TF1, a private French television channel owned by the Bouygues group. 1.8M subscribers and 2B views.

Turquie : ces gouffres géants qui apparaissent en une nuit

Things we can learn from the video

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0:22Aerial footage shows circular sinkholes cutting into agricultural fields on the Konya plain.
0:53Fatih Şık describes the noise and shaking as a sinkhole formed overnight on his land.
1:36The report links collapses to drought and intensive groundwater pumping, using a clearly labeled AI-generated explanatory animation.
2:43Geologists survey the cavities; Fetullah Arık warns that transport routes and electricity networks are also threatened.
3:26A drilling company offers the reporter a well without a permit, acknowledging that the work would be illegal.
4:12Authorities encourage less water-intensive crops; Ibrahim Taşdemirel describes switching a field from corn to sunflowers.

Asked about permission to drill a well, the contractor tells the reporter it is unnecessary: the company can do the work illegally. The offer, made by phone, comes during an investigation into enormous sinkholes opening across agricultural land in central Turkey.

France's TF1 INFO news service reports that the business offers to dig a well without a permit in roughly ten days. The exchange puts a practical problem behind the striking aerial pictures: farmers depend on irrigation, while intensive pumping adds to pressure on already depleted groundwater supplies.

The report, titled "Turquie : ces gouffres géants qui apparaissent en une nuit" ("Turkey: Giant sinkholes that appear overnight"), shows almost perfectly circular cavities interrupting the fields of the Konya plain. Some reach 100 meters across, according to the broadcaster.

At Karapınar, livestock farmer Fatih Şık shows two recent collapses on his land. He describes a deafening noise and shaking when one formed during the night. His concern extends beyond the holes he can see: he fears another cavity could develop beneath his barn, threatening the future of his farm, but says he has nowhere else to go.

The report attributes the phenomenon to drought, warming and excessive groundwater extraction for agriculture. An explanatory animation is explicitly labeled as AI-generated; the surrounding footage shows the actual fields, sinkholes and geological surveys.

Fetullah Arık, a geologist and professor at Konya Technical University, warns that the danger reaches beyond farms and homes to roads, railways and electricity networks. He argues that irrigation cannot continue as though water were unlimited.

Authorities are encouraging crops that need less water. Farmer Ibrahim Taşdemirel says a field planted with corn this year will have to grow sunflowers next year, making the groundwater problem a direct decision about what his farm can produce.

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