Villager Wins Court Battle Against Hydroelectric Plant Construction

Screen Shot 2014-06-26 at 12.29.06 PM 26th June An admin­is­tra­tive court in the Black Sea province of Rize has ruled to halt the con­struc­tion of a hydro­elec­tric pow­er plant (

Screen Shot 2014-06-26 at 12.29.06 PM 26th June An admin­is­tra­tive court in the Black Sea province of Rize has ruled to halt the con­struc­tion of a hydro­elec­tric pow­er plant (HES) that was being built on the Andon Riv­er, which pro­vides fresh water to at least 3,000 peo­ple in the vil­lage of Küçükçayır.

Küçükçayır vil­lage was declared an envi­ron­men­tal­ly pro­tect­ed site in 2011. The village’s res­i­dents held a protest in Feb­ru­ary against a HES being con­struct­ed near the riv­er, clos­ing the main road of the vil­lage for hours as part of their protest and not allow­ing con­struc­tion equip­ment to oper­ate at the site.

Accord­ing to a Cihan news agency report on Wednes­day, Kezım Delal, one of the vil­lagers, sold a cow and took a loan from a bank in order to file a law­suit against the con­struc­tion com­pa­ny. Empha­siz­ing that he has been strug­gling in court against the con­struc­tion plan, which is like­ly to harm the envi­ron­ment, Delal said the injunc­tion to halt con­struc­tion stands as an impor­tant step towards pro­tect­ing the envi­ron­ment from oth­er upcom­ing pow­er plant con­struc­tion projects that might destroy the country’s nat­ur­al beau­ty.

“I have been liv­ing in this vil­lage for 70 years. I was born here. This is my home. I am so hap­py that court ruled in favor of our future. Now, I just want to see the con­struc­tion com­pa­ny leave us alone right away,” he told the press.

Empha­siz­ing that they have been keep­ing watch for almost eight months in order to pre­vent the con­struc­tion com­pa­ny from doing any dam­age, Delal thanked all his friends who did not leave his side dur­ing the protest. “This vic­to­ry belongs to all of us. Now we can move on with our lives,” he added.

Stat­ing that they were tak­en into cus­tody by gen­darmes many times due to the their protests, Yusuf Esir, anoth­er vil­lager, said that he was hap­py to take a stand against the con­struc­tion plans. “In order to intim­i­date us, gen­darmes took us into cus­tody many times. But nobody can deter us. If any­body should leave this vil­lage, it’s the con­struc­tion com­pa­ny, not us. Because this is our vil­lage,” Esir stat­ed.