Turkey’s parliament on Saturday passed a controversial bill that opens certain agricultural land, including areas where olives are cultivated, to mining activities, local media reported, despite widespread opposition.
The bill, part of a broader package proposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), sparked protests from opposition parties and environmental groups.
Farmers from across Turkey have gathered outside parliament over the past two weeks, urging the government to withdraw the draft, with some starting a hunger strike this week.
Parliamentary debate Saturday led to tensions between the AKP and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers, who spoke out against the expropriation of olive groves for mining activities, the private NTV television reported.
On Friday Ali Mahir Başarır of the CHP accused parliament of acting like CEO of energy companies.
“The entire parliament has become CEO of five companies,” he said.
“[Farmers] are on a hunger strike; therefore, we will continue to resist” against the draft, he added.
In 2023 local villagers and environmental activists occupied Akbelen Forest, inland from the Aegean resort town of Bodrum, to protect it from an energy company that operates a nearby coal mine.
At the time Erdoğan dismissed the protesters as “marginal,” saying new coal basins were needed for the country’s power plants as existing reserves were close to depletion.
Turkey ratified the Paris Climate agreement in 2021.
Activists say Turkey has enormous renewable energy potential and does not need to rely on coal to produce electricity.
© Agence France-Presse