Bartu ÖzdenIn recent months, a regulation was amended to allow olive groves to open to mining for electricity generation. Afterward, olive trees were uprooted for a lignite mine project in the Akbelen Forest in Muğla, and the actions of the local people and environmental activists to stop the execution project caused a widespread outcry.I had a conversation with environmental engineer Deniz Gümüşel, a member of the İkizköy Environment Committee, which organized these protests, who has also detained during the resistance.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/5/5/1656067596490.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.79" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Main basis Olive Law</h2>Gümüşel says that the 1939 Law on Olive Groves is a "very robust" law that prohibits even the owners of olive trees from cutting them down. And this prevents the establishment of dust-generating facilities within three kilometers of olive groves. Thus it prevents mining operations in olive areas.On March 1, the Ministry of Energy amended its regulations to pave the way for the relocation of olive groves for energy-generating facilities, Gümüşel said, reminding us that laws are above regulations in the hierarchy. Shee states that they have filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Energy for this illegal regulation and stopped its execution.On the other hand, he says that YK Energy tried to uproot the olive groves and add them to lignite mine areas on March 31, which was prevented by actual actions, and that the company even had to replant the uprooted olive trees.Gümüşel says that the company has been trying to buy land from the villagers in this region due to the obstacles that the Olive Law poses to their activities. She also says that the İkizköy Environmental Committee has been talking to the villagers about not selling their land. Except for a few who have severed their ties with the village, the vast majority of villagers in İkizköy, Çamköy, and Karacahisar are in favor of not selling their land, according to Gümüşsel.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Promising developments</h2>Gümüşel said that a suit was filed against the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for the annulment of the decision allowing the allocation of Akbelen Forest for mining, as reported in the news last week. She described the expert report on the case as "promising."In the report, four experts have written in detail about the ecological problems caused by the allocation of Akbelen Forest to coal mining. In addition, these experts emphasized the damage it will cause to trees, water basins, biodiversity, olive cultivation, and the people who live from olive cultivation and also its contribution to the climate crisis.It is also stated that Akbelen Forest has become even more special for Muğla after the fire disaster caused by the climate crisis last summer. So they say that it is the only ecological corridor between the forests in the north and the south for wildlife to pass through and that the forest must be protected for the continuity of wildlife.In the report, two experts cited Turkey's need for energy production and argued that "the area should be allocated for coal mining even if it would cause ecological destruction." The İkizköy Environment Committee objected to this part of the report, arguing that "if there is ecological destruction, there can be no public interest."The court's request to the Muğla Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry for a breakdown of the olive groves in and around Akbelen Forest was a source of hope, considering the Law on Olive Groves. It is hopeful that the decision to allow this mine, which will not only directly destroy the olive groves, but also leave the surrounding olive groves in dust and without water, rendering them unable to produce, will be canceled. Gümüşel adds that olive farming in the region has already been losing yield for 40 years due to dust.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">"People are in a rush to protect their land"</h2>When I asked what kind of reactions they received from the community, Gümüşel replied that "İkizköy's struggle to defend its land has been going on for three years, that the tent vigil they started when they started to cut down the forest made the public aware of the issue at the highest level through the press, and that they have seen a great solidarity and that this solidarity continues."She said that İkizköy is now in contact with other ecological struggles and that they exchange support physically or through social media. She undirlined that in Turkey, people are fighting to protect their land, water, valleys, and forests in addition to economic, social, and political bottlenecks.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Proposal for an economy based on olives, not coal</h2>Gümüşel said that there has been a coal-based economy in the region for 40 years, and there are also people working at the power plant among the people of İkizköy, that some people's relations with politicians have been strained, and that they have been timid and have not objected loudly or taken the front line in protests. Despite this, she adds, no one has been able to come to say to "you are doing wrong" them.Gümüşel says that the unions made a statement, which was also reported in the press, that workers would be unemployed if coal operations were to stop, suggesting that the company is using the workers to save its profits and the union to save its union. He says that the İkizköy Environment Committee, which has the support of international environmental organizations, has prepared a "Future of Olive Groves" report with the work of expert academics instead of responding directly to this statement, and that it is seen that employment will be protected with olive groves that will develop even if coal activities stop.This study, which reports on investments that protect human health and do not reduce welfare, shows that with an annual incentive of 240 million liras given to thermal power plants, 70 olive farming enterprises that would create 700 new jobs could be established, that is, considering that 1200 people work at the power plants, it is possible to create jobs in much more humane conditions with two years of incentives.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Expectations from politics</h2>When I asked what kind of reactions they received from politics, she said that there are people with different political views in the İkizköy Environment Committee and the village community, but they think that the struggle for ecology and climate should be at the top of the agenda of all political parties, regardless of daily political debates. Gümüşel says that they invited all political parties to the site and opened a space for all of them to contribute, adding that in the first months of the vigil, the participation of politicians was intense and leaders also came to the site.Gümüşel thanked the MPs who followed them closely and supported them with parliamentary questions and speeches. And she says that they have two main expectations from politicians:First, she underlines the importance of MPs coming to the field when there is an actual situation. She says that this both informs large masses of people about their struggle and that it makes a difference to have MPs with them when they are bulwarking their bodies against law enforcement forces. So, MPs are expected to come to the field.Secondly, and more importantly, she says that coal should be out of Turkey's future and that they want the opposition parties to show their will and promise this in their programs. They demand politicians to come to İkizköy and talk to the workers who say they "don't want to get cancer" and see with their own eyes the harm of coal to human health. She states that coal phase-out has not been on the agenda of political parties so far and that only the DEVA Party has a program that envisages coal phase-out by 2040, which is too late.Finally, Gümüşel adds that they have never said "lock the doors of coal operations today" and that they want a gradual phase-out plan to be prepared, not exceeding 2030, taking into account Turkey's energy needs and security. She points out that the issue is not just İkizköy, that some coal enterprises have operating licenses until 2063, and that the future will be dark if the destructive dimensions of coal are not sufficiently understood by the public.

Akbelen Forest ile ilgili hikayeler