‘Keep your hands off İkizdere’

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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and 44 medical chambers across Turkey have expressed their support for people's resistance in İkizdere against the stone quarry attempted to be opened by the pro-government Cengiz Construction company in the Black Sea province of Rize.

The joint statement has stressed that the company has already caused ecological destruction in the region by cutting down several trees. Published in the website of the TTB, the statement briefly reads:

'We support the people's resistance'

"The company, by cutting down several trees despite the resistance of life defenders, has caused a significant ecological destruction in the region.

"We support this rightful resistance of all people of İkizdere, who have been laying claim to their living space with its trees, birds, wildlife and water and to their right to live in a healthy environment by exercising their legal rights granted by the Article 56 of our Constitution.

'A medical impact assessment must be done'

"We request that the people's participation in all stages be ensured before the stone quarries are opened and that a comprehensive environmental impact assessment be carried out in its real dimensions.

"Moreover, in addition to the environmental impact assessment, a method of 'medical impact assessment' must be legalized and implemented in our country in order to assess the impacts that the project desired to be realized will have on the public health."

'Give up the stone quarry'

The physicians have also requested that the plans to open a stone quarry in the valley be dropped and all fines imposed on the people for violating the pandemic restrictions be cancelled:

"What is happening in İkizdere today is a typical example of the projects of environmental plunder and destruction that are carried out all across our country for the sake of money while our people are struggling for their lives in these difficult times amid the pandemic.

"We, as the TTB, stand in solidarity with the people of İkizdere, who have been keeping watch in order to defend their living spaces and centuries-old wildlife in the region by resisting all types of pressures.

"We demand that the excavators that have entered the valley be withdrawn, the plan to set up a stone quarry in İşkencedere Valley be abandoned and all fines imposed on the local people on the grounds that they violated the pandemic restrictions be cancelled."

The undersigned

Turkish Medical Association, İzmir Medical Chamber, Adana Medical Chamber, Kastamonu-Çankırı Medical Chamber, Ağrı Medical Chamber, Kırıkkale Medical Chamber, Ankara Medical Chamber, Kırklareli Medical Chamber, Antalya Medical Chamber, Kocaeli Medical Chamber, Aydın Medical Chamber, Manisa Medical Chamber, Balıkesir Medical Chamber, Mardin Medical Chamber, Bartın Medical Chamber, Mersin Medical Chamber, Batman Medical Chamber, Muğla Medical Chamber, Bitlis Medical Chamber, Muş Medical Chamber, Bolu-Düzce Medical Chamber, Osmaniye Medical Chamber, Bursa Medical Chamber, Rize-Artvin Medical Chamber, Çanakkale Medical Chamber, Samsun Medical Chamber, Denizli Medical Chamber, Siirt Medical Chamber, Diyarbakır Medical Chamber, Sinop Medical Chamber, Edirne Medical Chamber, Şanlıurfa Medical Chamber, Elazığ-Tunceli-Bingöl Medical Chamber, Şırnak Medical Chamber, Eskişehir-Bilecik Medical Chamber, Tekirdağ Medical Chamber, Gaziantep-Kilis Medical Chamber, Trabzon Medical Chamber, Giresun Medical Chamber, Uşak Medical Chamber, Hatay Medical Chamber, Van-Hakkari Medical Chamber, Isparta-Burdur Medical Chamber, Zonguldak Medical Chamber, İstanbul-Yalova Medical Chamber.

What's happening in İkizdere?

A decision of urgent expropriation was taken in İskencedere Valley in the district with the Presidential decree for the quarry needed to be used in the logistics port construction to be built in the İkizdere, Rize.

Thereupon, the villagers took action and set up a tent at the entrance of the valley, started to keep watch and took the decision to the court. However, Cengiz Holding employees, who would carry out the construction, entered the valley on April 21 and started to work for the stone quarry.

Company employees, who came with the gendarmerie, asked the citizens who set up tents at the entrance of the valley and were on guard to remove their tents. Despite the reactions of the citizens on watch, the tents were lifted and the gendarmerie barricaded the entrance of the valley.

In a short time, the construction machines started to work, and the people of the region flocked to the valley. Citizens said that the authorities of the company working in the valley did not have any permissions and that the work was illegal. The resisting villagers ensured that the construction machinery left the area with their protests.

CLICK - 'Trees uprooted in İkizdere, villagers watch in tears'

Law enforcement fined the villagers for failing to comply with the curfew declared as part of the COVID-19 pandemic measures. The villagers continued to resist despite the fines. On Sunday, April 25, the villagers whose roads were blocked came with trucks from the forest and demanded the cessation of the activity and the withdrawal of the gendarmerie.

The gendarmerie did not withdraw and, as the resistance continued, they intervened with tear gas against the villagers. Several women were injured during the intervention, and the villagers were detained. The villagers, including İkizdere Associations Federation Chair Ziya Yıldırım, were later released. They were also fined due to the 3-day coronavirus lockdown.

Despite the resistance, it was revealed that Cengiz İnşaat applied for a capacity increase on 3 March while the construction was continuing and the 11th Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure gave the company permission to open a new quarry. Having faced protests over the stone quarry project for weeks, Cengiz Holding stated that the site for the quarry was chosen by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. (TP/SD)