The lockdown and curfew restrictions that started with the COVID-19 pandemic have been instrumentalized for the brutal repression and prevention of peaceful protests. Watch for Water and Conscience activists have been fined with an amount more than 500k Turkish Liras for not leaving their post despite the curfew.
Advocates for ecology and environmental rights have been increasingly facing repression and blockings ever since the second half of the 2000s. 12 eco-activists were detained back in 2012 in Ankara during a protest against the planned nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, Mersin. In 2016, in Cerattepe, Artvin, the non-violent resistance against a mining project was brutally attacked by the police with teargas and the leaders of the resistance were detained. Dozens of people were detained again in rallies held in support for the resistance in cities like Izmir and Kocaeli. Last year, once again, dozens of protestors were detained on several occasions during protests against the flooding of the Ilısu Dam in Hasankeyf. In March, 2020, two professors trying to protect the Center for Native Seed and Plant Production at the University of Pamukkale from the planned construction of a public facility were physically attacked. 9 locals of the Kirazlıyayla village in Bursa were detained with home invasion in the early hours of the morning of June 7, 2020 for resisting the building of a facility for flotation and waste disposal, only to be released on bail the next day.
The lockdown and curfew restrictions that started with the COVID-19 pandemic have been instrumentalized for the brutal repression and prevention of peaceful protests. Watch for Water and Conscience Activists have been fined with an amount close to 100k Turkish Liras for not leaving their post despite the curfew.
The Water and Conscience Watch started with a footage from the former forest land that became barren after 195 thousand trees cut by Alamos Gold, which operated the gold mine in Kazdağları (Ida Mountain Range) . The watch began on July 26, 2019 by the call of the Watch for Water and Conscience Committee. Initially, the committee consisted of the vice presidents from the Municipality of Canakkale as well as executives and members of Ida Association for Solidarity.
Following Fazıl Say’s recital on August 18, 2019, the committee decided to stop the watch, which was a constant tent-camp, and evacuated the area. Advocates from all around the country, who were there to show solidarity, however, held forums and decided to continue with the resistance camp. Those who stayed started a campaign, which they named Her Yer Kazdağları (Everywhere is Ida Mountain Range). Some organizations in support of the Watch from Canakkale and the bay area came together and held activities under the name ‘Birleşerek Kazanacağız’ (‘We’ll Win by Uniting’). Those living in Istanbul and had actively participated in the Kirazlı gold mine watch also came together to start a Kazdağları Istanbul Solidarity movement.
As of June 11, 2020, the watch had been going on for 322 days.
Ever since the watch started, Canakkale Forestry Department and Canakkale Governorship have been issuing penalties to create pressure on these advocates of life. Prior to the pandemic, approximately 10 advocates were fined 150 Turkish Liras a day for ‘camping overnight in the woods’.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the activists took seriously the Ministry of Health’s warnings and self-isolated. They stopped accepting newcomers as a precaution. The officers from the Regional Forestry Department asked the activists to evacuate the area on the grounds of the decree given by the City Board of Public Health despite the fact that the local law reinforcement was already aware of the situation. The mine, though, was still kept active at the time. The activists stated that they were not leaving the area under those conditions, for which they were fined 3,180 Turkish Liras per person for 4 consecutive days, totaling up to 70,840 Liras. They were fined an additional 800 Liras per day during the Ramadan holiday, during which the entire country was under curfew. As of June 1, 2020, the local gendarmerie is continuing to keep record of those visiting the area, despite the loosening of the lockdown, on the grounds that regional parks have not yet been opened. On the World Environment Day (June 5th), local forces did not allow people from the city to be there for the press release organized by the activists in front of the gates of the mine. On June 22, 2020, activists on the field filed a criminal complaint against the arrests and fines imposed on the watch.
The defenders were evacuated on September 22, 2020, on the 425th day of the watch, with a gendarme raid in the early morning. 4 people from the Everywhere Kazdağları group were taken to the central gendarmerie command. However, 4 names, who were not detained, were released shortly after. The gendarmerie also demolished the derelict building, the former forest depot used by life advocates to warm up in the winter.
By the end of 2020, the fines imposed on the grounds of the epidemic exceeded 500 thousand lira. A solidarity campaign was initiated when attachment orders began to come before the legal process regarding the penalties was over.
An earthquake of magnitude 5 happened in Çanakkale Ayvacık on February 20, 2019. Association for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Assets of Kazdağı visited the villages after the earthquake to examine the effects of the natural disaster and to show solidarity. After a mother said that her children's feet were freezing, they needed winter boots and asked for support, with the decision of the board of directors, more than 100 children's boots were met from the association's budget. This support was reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office as "activity against the Association's statute". Association President Süheyla Doğan was summoned to Küçükkuyu Police Station to take her statement due to a criminal complaint filed by the Edremit District Governor's Office to the Public Prosecutor's Office. Association for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Assets of Kazdağı, announced on February 1, 2022 that the Edremit District Governorship had imposed an administrative fine of 51,730 TL in the person of President Süheyla Doğan. Reasons that could be corrected with a warning were cited as the reason for the penalty, such as forgetting to write the identification number on some of the receipt documents, the decision numbers starting from 1 every year in the decision book, and late declaration of an amount that needs to be declared via the online system. The association appealed to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace against the administrative fine.
Edremit Criminal Judgeship of Peace, in its decision dated April 20, 2022, canceled the administrative fine given to Kazdağı Natural and Cultural Heritage Preservation Association by Edremit District Governorate. The decision has been finalized as it is.
Kazdağı Ecology Festival (Ekofest), which was originally intended to be held on 21-25 June 2023 in Mehmetalan village, Edremit district of Balıkesir, in Kuzgun Camp and Darıdere Nature Park, was canceled on the grounds of "wild fires". The organizing committee wanted to organize the festival in Bayramiç. However, this time the Bayramiç District Governorate did not allow the festival, which was planned to be held in the Bayramiç Hacıkayyum Recreation Area. Thereupon, Süheyla Doğan, President of Kazdağı Natural and Cultural Heritage Preservation Association, made a press statement in front of Bayramiç District Governor's Office on Tuesday, July 20, and noted that on July 21, 2023, Bayramiç Police Department was called and informed that an investigation was initiated against her.
An unfair arrest report and a release report were prepared for Doğan, who was invited to testify by phone by the Bayramiç Police Department, at the Bayramiç Police Department where she went. An investigation was opened against Doğan and 26 people with her on the grounds of "making a press statement in front of a public institution". This investigation turned into a lawsuit on the charge of "violating the Demonstration and March Law No. 2911." The hearing of the case will be held on September 17, 2024.
Süheyla Doğan filed a countersuit at the Çanakkale 1st High Criminal Court with the request "Detection of the violation of rights resulting from unfair arrest and demand for compensation against the administration". The first hearing of this case was held on March 7, 2024. She also made an individual application to the Constitutional Court.
Kazdagi Natural and Cultural Heritage Preservation Association held a sit-in in Edremit Altinkum on 6 August 2023 to support the resistance against the tree massacre in Akbelen Forest. An investigation was launched against approximately 25 people, including members of the association, on the grounds that they violated the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations.