Another day of nature watch in Akbelen Forest

Photos: Diyar Saraçoğlu

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Today was the 12th day of the resistance in the Akbelen forest. The watch that the villagers and activists are keeping continue and the daily routine on the site of the resistence continues with visitors coming for support every day.  

Those on watch closely keep track of the work the soldiers and the company employees undertake. While they keep watch in order to prevent tree felling, they also take legal actions in order to save the forest. 

Today, the gendarma started to prevent them from bringing water to the site with water trucks. 

The gendarme is also using jammers in order to hinder internet communication from the site. 

Ecocide is maybe the best word to describe what is happening in Akbelen. The people keeping watch in the forest has labeled the area, now surrounded with barriers and barbed wires where the receng tree felling took place "the ecocide crime site," erecting a signboard. 

A special area dedicated to pets is prepared in the Akbelen Forest resistence site.

The villagers and the activists are calling on Barcelona sports club to cancel a tender granted to Limak Holding for the renewal of the Camp Nou stadium. 

There is also music in the resistence area. Folk songs and other songs go along with the watch. 

Banners are hung expressing solidarity with the ecology fights waged elsewhere in the country such as Dikmece and Cudi. 

The soldiers protect those working to enlarge the coal mine to swallow up the Akbelen Forest. 

While there is no new tree felling at the moment, work continues to cut the trees into logs starting from 6 am until it gets dark. 

After the tree felling and the removing of the tree logs, the area is prepared for the expansion of the coal mine. 

Those keeping watch in the forest have their dinner and prepare for the next day in the evening. 

 (DS/Mİ/PE)