Tension between environmental activists and gendarmerie rises as logging crew enters Akbelen Forest to expand coal mine in Agean Muğla province of Turkey. Gendarmerie intervenes with pepper gas, water cannon and batons, taking several into custody and injuring others.
In İkizköy, while women mourn for the felled trees, they are also taking their place at the forefront of the resistance: “We are living a day where helplessness has deeply affected us. Right now, everything is gone, our olive trees, our land, our nature, everything…”
Thousands of trees in Akbelen Forest in southwestern Turkiye have been destroyed since Monday to expand a coal mine nearby as the tension between activists and the gendarmerie forces continues to fluctuate.
Villagers as well as ecology activists in Muğla have been fighting against the cutting of trees in Akbelen Forest as part of a coal mine expansion project and to prevent ecocide in the area for two years.
While the situation in the region remained calm in recent months, on July 24, the cutting of trees resumed with the presence of gendarmerie and TOMA vehicles.
Hundreds of ecology activists from across Turkiye flooded to Akbelen Forest to stop the cutting down of the trees upon the entrance of the logging crew into the forest.
As the villagers and environmental activists continue their protests against the tree-cutting, representatives from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Green Left Party and the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) joined the demonstrations yesterday.
The villagers and ecologists then hugged the trees, stating once again that it is very important for the İkizköy villagers that the Akbelen Forest remains a forest.
Meanwhile, the gendarmerie set up barricades to prevent the activists from accessing the area where tree-cutting was being conducted.
Following a two-hour sit-in protest, the crowd, including the politicians, attempted to march towards the site where trees were being cut down for the mine expansion. The gendarmerie responded by using batons and tear gas. They used pepper spray on the protesters at close range and launched tear gas canisters into the forested area.
Several people were reported to be injured during the incident, and 65-year-old Havva Ova was hospitalized due to the impact of pressurized water and pepper gas. She was discharged from the hospital and joined the protests in Akbelen Forest again the next day.
While Turkey is struggling with forest fires in many regions, the gendarmerie fired gas shells in a wooded area which is a fire zone.
After the attack, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Muğla MPs and the accompanying delegation also came to the area and wanted to enter the place where the trees were cut. After a meeting with the gendarmerie, MPs were not allowed to enter the forest as well.
Green Left Party delegation reacted to the situation and started a sit-in protest in front of the gendarmerie barricade.
A Turkish court has banned environmentalist Deniz Gümüşel, HDP İzmir provincial co-chair Çınar Altan and photographer Selahattin Kaya from entering Milas district borders after they were detained during the protests of villagers in Akbelen Forest against mining operations.
Since 2019, the 740-decare Akbelen Forest and the İkizköylü village have been threatened by plans to extend coal mines. In 2021, the locals filed a lawsuit against the company YK Energy, a joint affiliate of IC Holding and Limak Holding, which is known to have close ties with the Turkish government, for the annulment of the project.
During the judiciary process, courts have several times ruled for the suspension of the coal mine project, but the company rejected to abide by these court rulings.
Lament for Akbelen
In İkizköy, while women mourn for the felled trees, they are also taking their place at the forefront of the resistance.
84-year-old Berrin from İkizköy said, “We are living a day where helplessness has deeply affected us. Right now, everything is gone, our olive trees, our land, our nature, everything… Some things cannot be conveyed through words; experiencing it firsthand is essential, but I can’t express this pain. More than 500 gendarmes have come, trying to suppress us under the shade of pine trees. If you’re cutting down the trees, don’t wait in their shadows. We are in sorrow.”
Melahat, one of the villagers, said, “We were resisting here. They came with gendarmerie and police to start cutting down our trees. Please, save our pines. If this place is lost, everything will burn, Turkey will burn. Let’s not allow them to cut down our pines and forests,” she pleaded.
Sultan, an 85-year-old resident of İkizköy, expressed, “I came here as a bride. My memories, my life, all happened here. Without forests, not even a drop of rain will fall, there will be no regulation, crops won’t grow, and people will go hungry. If there are no forests, where will we find water? It pains me even to see a dry branch falling from the pines. Please don’t let them cut down our forest.”