Night Watch for Olive Trees in Ankara!

While the discussions on the bill, known to the public as the “Super Permit”, which foresees opening olive groves to mining activities, continue, citizens have started keeping watch in Ankara. The villagers who are defenders of life, who set out from the İkizköy Neighborhood of Muğla, this time kept watch in Cemal Süreya Park in Ankara in order not to surrender their olive groves to the mine.

The aim of the life advocates who spent the night in the capital, wrapped in blankets on the grass, is to withdraw the mining law that threatens the olive trees . The people of İkizköy are now continuing a struggle similar to the one they have been carrying out for years against coal mining in the Akbelen Forest, at the gates of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM).

The people of İkizköy, with blankets in their hands, bags under their heads and small pillows, are holding signs that say “Don’t touch my olives” and “Everywhere is Akbelen, everywhere is resistance.”

İkizköy residents: “The Olive Protection Law Will Be De facto Ineffective”

The people of İkizköy, who resist regardless of the coolness of the night and the hard ground , want the regulation presented to the Turkish Grand National Assembly as part of the omnibus bill, which paves the way for mining in olive groves, to be completely withdrawn . Defenders of life argue that the draft law in question will effectively disable the Olive Protection Law and endanger olive groves all over Turkey.

“They are destroying our trees”

One of the resisters shared his feelings with the following words: "Our land, our tree, our village. If the state does not protect it, we will protect it. We are sleeping here because they are killing our tree with the laws they are trying to pass in the Parliament early in the morning."

The people of İkizköy and life advocates call on all citizens to support this struggle: “This is not just an issue for İkizköy. This is a struggle for olives, for water, for air, for life.”