By Ali Kucukgocmen
IKIZKOY, Turkey, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Local official Nejla Isik is among the villagers living beside a coal mine who demand that world leaders gathering in Turkey for COP31 climate talks leave the conference venue to inspect the devastation decades of lignite extraction have caused.
Beginning on Monday, the transition to cleaner energy will be among the themes at the UN conference that continues until November 20 in Antalya on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
Isik, an elected official for her community, says the government leaders and UN officials need to head a few hundred kilometres west to Ikizkoy, near the Akbelen forest in Turkey’s southwestern Mugla province, and see for themselves the impact of coal on nature and on people’s lives.
Villagers, who for years have protested against coal mining, have been fined and arrested.
“They should come here, those heads of state. They should come not to Antalya but to Akbelen, to Ikizkoy,” said Isik. Her home in Ikizkoy is only a few hundred metres behind a lignite mine that has crept nearer over decades of expansion. Lignite is the lowest grade of coal, meaning burning it releases higher amounts of carbon dioxide than more energy-dense coal.
ELECTRIFICATION, BUT WILL IT BE GREEN?
So far one of the prominent aims of COP31 is to agree a voluntary goal on increasing electrification, proposed by host country Turkey, but unless the electricity is low-carbon it will not curb planet-warming emissions.
Last year, coal was Turkey’s largest electricity source, generating 34% of the country’s power, making Turkey Europe’s biggest coal-fired electricity generator, according to energy think tank Ember. The mines in the Akbelen area provide coal for plants that generate just over 2% of Turkey’s power, according to the operator’s website.
Villagers and environmental campaigners like Isik, who oppose the expansion of lignite mining, say it has destroyed forest and threatens olive groves, farmland and communities.
The fight against coal has had harsh consequences. Isik’s 26-year-old daughter Esra spent 42 days in pretrial detention after a protest against the planned expropriation of land for mining. A court in July sentenced her to two years in prison for resisting public officials. She is free pending the decision of an appeal.
“This punishment was not just handed to me. It was an attempt to punish everyone in this country who stands up for their rights, their land and their village,” Esra Isik said.
Her mother has for years protested against the expansion of coal mining around her village.
“For 40 years we’ve been living with coal breathing down our necks. I try to live here with the breath of coal, with the dirt of coal,” Nejla Isik said.
The coal supplies the nearby Yenikoy and Kemerkoy power plants, operated by Yenikoy-Kemerkoy Energy, a joint venture involving Limak and IC Ictas.
Limak declined to comment for this story. IC Ictas did not respond to a request for comment.
At a meeting with foreign media on Thursday, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Turkey was working on a just transition to cleaner energy, but that it was difficult as the mines employ thousands of people.
He said nuclear energy offered the most viable alternative and Ankara was aiming for 10 gigawatts of nuclear generation capacity by 2040. That would equate roughly to current coal-powered production, according to Reuters calculations.
RESTRICTIONS ON PROTESTS IN TURKEY
Rights groups have raised concerns about restrictions on protests in Turkey, including blanket bans on demonstrations, mass detentions and what they say is the disproportionate use of force.
Human Rights Watch said in an October report that Turkish authorities had arbitrarily arrested and prosecuted environmental protesters in Akbelen and other parts of the country. It said security forces forcibly dispersed non-violent demonstrations and protesters, lawyers and journalists faced charges such as illegal assembly, obstructing public officials, trespass and spreading false information.
“With Turkey about to host the annual UN climate change summit, its environmental crackdown is a salient reminder of its intolerance of dissent,” said Deniz Bayram, assistant Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The government says police intervene when demonstrations are unlawful or threaten public order. The interior ministry and justice ministry did not comment for this story.
The dispute around Akbelen intensified in 2023 when tree-felling resumed. Villagers say security forces used water cannon and pepper spray on demonstrators seeking to enter the forest and that other punishments followed.
“We were subjected to water cannon, pepper gas, detention, everything,” Nejla Isik said. “Afterwards, because we didn’t abandon this area, this village, there were fines, and a year later cases were opened against us.”
Hasan Yorulmaz, another resident, said protesters had marched to stop pine trees being cut down when soldiers blocked their path.
“They used pepper spray on women and men, young and old,” he said. “Despite that, we continued the resistance. I was at the front and they took me away and detained me.”
(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Mehmet Emin Caliskan: Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Barbara Lewis)
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