İstanbul Environmentalists Protest Soma Power Plant

Demonstrations were held outside the İstanbul offices of the Kolin Group on Wednesday, after the corporation sent workers to olive groves in Soma, a district of Manisa province, where they began uprooting olive trees earlier this week for the construction of a thermal power plant.

Members of the Kuzey Ormanları Savunması (Northern Forests Defense) gathered outside the Kolin building in İstanbul's Levent district and held a sit-in. The group held signs protesting the destruction of olive groves in western Manisa province. Earlier this week, when bulldozers entered the olive groves, local villagers attempted to stop the construction workers but were handcuffed and assaulted by the Kolin company's private security teams.

In response to these events, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız defended the razing of the olive groves, saying on Wednesday, “With the investment of $1.3 billion, 100-200 trees should not be a hindrance to Turkey's development.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)