Turkish soldiers opened fire into the air on Tuesday to disperse a crowd of villagers protesting the felling of trees for a sand quarry project in the Çömçeli (Hûsika) neighbourhood of Çınar (Çinar/Axpar), in the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakır (Amed), eyewitnesses and rights groups reported.
The protest erupted after Kalyon İnşaat, a construction firm, began clearing trees near the Girgever stream to make way for the quarry. Local residents claim the project poses a severe threat to the environment and their livelihoods, sparking grassroots resistance in the rural community.
Eyewitness video shared online showed soldiers firing shots in the air as they moved to disperse demonstrators. While no injuries were reported, villagers alleged they were subjected to both physical and psychological violence, including the use of tear gas.
Three villagers — Mustafa Alay, Mehmet Can Alay, and Fethi Turgay — were arrested during the incident and remain in custody at the Çınar police station.
On Tuesday, representatives from the Diyarbakir Bar Association Environmental and Urban Law Commission, Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) Ecology Commission, and the Amed Ecology Association visited Çömçeli to meet with residents and observe the area. “We don’t want a sand quarry in our forest. We will continue our resistance,” a villager told the delegation.
The legal and environmental groups said they would pursue legal action to halt the project and are expected to release a report based on their findings in the coming days.
The incident has drawn renewed attention to the increasing environmental degradation in Turkey’s Kurdish regions, where industrial and extractive projects continue to face local opposition.
