The resistance against the mining operations of Canada-based Alamos Gold Inc and its Turkish subcontractor Doğu Biga Mining at Mount Ida (Kazdağları) in Turkey’s north western Çanakkale province has been continuing for 425 days.
Activists say that the mining project will harm the natural cycle irreversibly by contaminating soil and water sources to extract gold. Over time ad-hoc protests in the region evolved into a large-scale solidarity campaign against the destruction of the precious ecological structure of the mountainous area.
Alamos Gold and Doğu Biga are still operating in the area despite their legal mining licence being expired, and according to the satellite images, they have cut down more trees than they earlier claimed. Yet protestors have been fined 500,000 Turkish Liras under the pretext of enforcing Coronavirus pandemic measures for their ongoing resistance.
Turkish gendarmerie raided the protestors’ Kirazlı campaign area at Mount Ida and detained four of them. Government and its security forces are the protectors of this project which is plundering the areas natural resources and as the social solidarity gains momentum they are making efforts to block the resistance, both locally and globally.
Bülent Falakaoğlu
Hakkı Özdal
