*UPDATE – 14:53 (CET)
Local residents are determined to resist the Turkish government’s “urgent expropriation” decision. Nejla Işık, a villager, said they have been fighting for five years against the mine, and accused the government of handing over their land to mining companies.
“We have resisted all their attacks for five years and have not stepped back. We will continue our fight. They say it’s for ‘public benefit.’ No, the public benefit is in clean air, soil and water. What will the President [Erdoğan] eat in his palace if these agricultural lands are gone? This decision is a blow to laws protecting olives and agriculture. But we will not give up our fight. We will file lawsuits against these decisions,” she stated.
A meeting has been scheduled by the community for 17 March in Akbelen to organise continued resistance efforts.
“We are gathering in Akbelen to show we haven’t given up our fight and that we have no land to give to the mine. We are calling all political parties, those who love their land, community leaders, community leader candidates, villagers, everyone to come here. Everyone should come and claim their land. It’s not over until we say it’s over,” Işık said.
Esra Işık, another villager, said that initially the company had offered 17,000 TL (530 USD) for lands later valued at 250,000 TL (7,800 USD), but the community had refused, valuing ancestral heritage over profit.
“The company threatened us, saying, ‘If you don’t willingly give up your lands, you’ll see what happens when they’re expropriated.’ Now, they’ve deemed this ‘public benefit.’ But the real public benefit lies in production and the peasants. We will continue on this just path and defeat this company with increased strength,” she stressed.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sanctioned an official decree on Tuesday for the swift expropriation of 190 parcels of fertile agricultural land in the expansion of Muğla province’s controversial lignite coal mine, which entered the limelight last year after swaths of nature-rich Akbelen Forest were flattened by government-backed developers.
The fossil fuel mine supplies the region’s Yeniköy-Kemerköy thermal power plant, operated by YK Enerji, a joint venture between the pro-government Limak Holding and the IC Holding. Limak Holding has been implicated as a member of the ‘Beşli Çete’* or ‘Gang of Five’, a group accused of profiteering, leveraging close ties with President Erdoğan’s administration.
Deforestation of the designated area earmarked for expanded mining operations began in July, sparking fierce resistance from the local community and environmentalists. A lawsuit filed by the protesters aimed to revoke the developer’s license but the proceedings were recently dismissed by an administrative court.
Conservation regulations have failed to protect the site, home to 40,000 olive trees, as industrial development accelerates unabated in rural areas of the country. The escalation of mining activities, including dynamite blasting in proximity to extensive olive groves, starkly contrasts with the Olive Cultivation Law.
This development raises critical questions on the balance between Turkey’s energy demands and the preservation of its agricultural heritage and natural ecosystems. As legal appeals continue, the fate of Akbelen Forest and its surrounding agricultural land remains a focal point of environmental and social activism within the country.
(*) The term “Beşli Çete” in Turkey colloquially refers to a group of five influential conglomerates—Cengiz Holding, Limak Holding, Kalyon Holding, Kolin Holding and Makyol Group—perceived to have significant control over the Turkish economy and politics through their extensive business interests in sectors such as media, construction, energy and banking. This term is used by the opposition to describe these companies, accusing them of corruption and highlighting their close connections with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s family. It has been claimed that these companies are among those receiving the most tenders globally, raising concerns about their influence on the fairness of the tender process and the intertwining of business with political power.
