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An investigation was launched against Deniz Gümüşel from the İkizköy Environment Committee for protesting the thermal power plant company which sponsored the Olive Harvesting Festival in Muğla's Milas.
Briefly detained on the day of the protest and charged with inciting the public to hatred and hostility", Gümüşel has been given a decision of non-prosecution by the Milas Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
In giving the decision, the Milas Chief Public Prosecutor has concluded that Gümüşel did not commit a crime and has drawn attention to the dimensions of environmental pollution and climate change.
Referring to the banner that Gümüşel carried and the slogans she chanted during the protest in its justified decision, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has noted that "they were in the nature of protesting environmental pollution and the destruction of the environment".
In ruling for non-prosecution, the Office has also considered that "...environmental pollution and the destruction of the natural environment have become a problem of the entire humanity and the Paris Climate Agreement has been signed for the reduction, adaptation and financement of Climate Change with the participation of several states across the world..."
The prosecutor has concluded that the remarks in the banner and slogans of Gümüşel cannot be considered within the scope of Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) as "there was no action or intention to incite one segment of the society against another" in the given incident.
The prosecutor has also noted that "the protest fell within environmental sensitivity and the elements of the crime did not arise."
'Decision is like a lesson'
The Committee has made a statement about the decision and said, "Ms./Mr. Prosecutor has written such a justified decision that it is like a lesson to those who try to threaten and intimidate the ecology movement and İkizköy struggle with detentions and deprive us of our right to protest."
What happened?
The Akbelen Forest in Muğla's Milas was cut down in order to provide the Yeniköy Kemerköy Thermal Power Plant operated by the LİMAK Holding with lignite. The villagers of İkizköy, where the forest is located, have been waging a struggle in the face of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry permission to open a lignite mine in the 740-decare Akbelen Forest.
Villagers and environmentalists sued the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the General Directorate of Forestry by applying to the Muğla 1st Administrative Court. Receiving the defense of the administration, the court ruled for an expert examination in the forest.
Not waiting for the court ruling, the Directorate General of Forestry came to the forest with excavators on July 17 and started cutting trees. In response, the people of İkizköy filed a criminal complaint against the officials of the Directorate General for "misconduct in office."
The cutting of trees stopped thanks to the struggle of the villagers who put up tents and started keeping watch at the entrance of the forest.
Environmental Engineer Deniz Gümüşel from the İkizköy Environmental Committee was briefly detained on November 14, 2021 because she protested that YK Energy, a company that operates thermal power plants and coal mines, sponsored the Olive Harvesting Festival in Milas in Muğla. (TP/SD)
