PodcastLocals near a week of resistance against quarry construction in Turkey's Rize
Residents of the Black Sea province of Rize are nearing their first week of resisting a pro-government company's construction of a stone quarry in the İşkencedere Valley. Cengiz Holding entered the valley under a nationwide lockdown on April 23, and locals have been getting around the gendarmerie barricades to prevent their work every day since.
The residents of the Black Sea province of Rize are nearing a week of resisting gendarmerie barricades protecting the construction of a stone quarry by pro-government Cengiz Holding in the İşkencedere Valley.
The company, known for its close ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), entered the area under a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown on April 23 and locals' access to the valley was blocked off by gendarmerie.
The locals have consistently found their way around the gendarmerie barricades ever since, and have been resisting tree cuttings by work machines.
One local was spotted on top of a tree at 8 a.m. on April 28, as the stone quarry project is thought to create mass deforestation.