The protest organized by citizens and environmentalists in the Akbelen forest, in the village of İkizköy in Muğla, against the building of a coal mine, was attacked by gendarmerie and water cannon vehicles on Monday morning. 

The lawyer of the villagers, who demanded that the plundering of nature be stopped, applied to the Muğla 1st Administrative Court.

There was an intervention by the gendarmerie using shields and pepper gas on the villagers trying to enter the forest. Three people and a lawyer were taken into custody. 

Background

YK Energy, co-owned by Limak Holding and İÇTAŞ operating the Yeniköy and Kemerköy thermal power stations, has obtained the necessary permissions to open 740 decares of land within the Akbelen forest in İkizköy to convert it to an open coal mine providing lignite for the thermal power stations. The company had, however, met with the resistance of the İkizköy villagers. 

A tree logging team from the Forest Administration entered the Akbelen forest at 6am on 17 July 2021, and cut nearly 30 trees before the İkizköy villagers reached the spot.

The villagers have been keeping a vigil in the forest ever since.