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The Struggle in Akbelen Persists Until Mining Operations Cease!

Akbelen Forest faced a devastating attack between July 24-30, 2023, despite all efforts. However, our vigil and resistance continue because, legally, Akbelen Forest is still recognized as a forest, and we still have olive groves, fields, and villages to protect.

Currently, dynamite explosions and mining activities persist dangerously close to our olive groves and homes. Our walls bear cracks and fissures, and our safety is being disregarded. The Law on Olive Groves strictly prohibits facilities and activities within a 3-kilometer radius of olive groves, but this law is being ignored in Akbelen!

Our struggle will persist until Limak and IC İçtaş vacate the area, and mining operations come to a halt.

We refuse to abandon our homes, olive groves, and village. For 40 years, we've endured the destructive impact of Yeniköy and Kemerköy thermal power plants and coal mines in Muğla. The coal mine, spanning 15 kilometers without interruption, has now encroached upon İkizköy. Our legal and factual struggle has spanned over four years.

If these areas succumb to the coal mine, those of us who are left homeless, landless, and unemployed will be forced to abandon our villages and migrate to the city, joining thousands of other displaced Muğla villagers.

BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

We urgently demand the following:

• Immediate cessation of mining operations,
• Cancellation of the mining permit granted to Yeniköy-Kemerköy Thermal Power Plants for the area, including Akbelen Forest,
• Implementation of the Olive Law, which has been violated in Akbelen.

We know that if the closure order issued in 1996 for the Yeniköy-Kemerköy Thermal Power Plants had been implemented, today, Akbelen Forest would not have been cut down for coal mining, and we would not be facing the risk of displacement from our homes. This is a violation of human rights and an environmental crime. We are not condemned to this form of electricity generation based on coal, which is harmful to nature, people, society, and the economy.

Do not burn İkizköy and Turkey down for coal!

#JusticeForAkbelen #JusticeForOlive #WeDoNotGiveUpOnAkbelen

İkizköy Environment Committee

NOTES:

1. Akbelen Forest is an important breeding, foraging, and nesting habitat for a large variety of bird species including those protected under the Bern Convention Appendix II - Strictly protected fauna species, such as Parus major, Sylvia atricapilla, and Sylvia melanocephala. The forest also accommodates plant species like Muscari racemosum which is endemic to the East Meditarranean.  
2. According to a 2018 study by the Research Association of Rural Environment and Forestry (Turkey), open-pit lignite mining in Mugla is responsible for the destruction of more than 50 thousand decares of land together with all its ecosystem components. %50 of this land was forest land, where the rest of it was mainly  composed of olive groves and agricultural fields. 
3. Real Costs of Coal Mugla report by CAN Europe states that 12 villages were evacuated for coal mines, either entirely wiped out or relocated. Thousands of people were displaced; they lost their agricultural lands and livelihoods. 
4. The air pollution caused by Muğla’s three coal-fired power plants is estimated to have been responsible for 45,000 premature deaths from 1982, when the first plant unit began operating in Yatağan, until the end of 2017. If these coal-fired power plants remain operational for the next 25 years, they are expected to cause 5,300 additional premature deaths even if the required investments are made in them in accordance with EU environmental standards.
5. Yeniköy, Kemerköy and Yatağan coal-fired power plants emitted 360 million tons of CO₂ between 1982 and 2017, and are expected to emit an additional 328 million tons of CO₂ in total if they continue to operate for an added period of 25 years until 2043. 
6. Turkey reportedly has a high level of unutilized capacity. In 2020, the country’s installed capacity was enough to produce electricity more than twice of the highest electricity consumption, reports the UCTEA  Chamber of Mechanical Engineers.