from Cihan
A group of residents in Amasra, a district of the Black Sea province of Bartın in Turkey’s north, formed two human chains to protest against a planned thermal power station in the area, on June 5, World Environment Day.
Activists met in Tarlaağzı, the village where the thermal power station will be constructed, and another group near Amasra Castle in a synchronized protest, forming human chains. The event was organized by the Bartın Platform to mark June 5.
The protest took place in heavy rain. The participants chanted slogans against the planned plant during the demonstration.
Small fisherman’s boats sailing near the Küçük Liman port, near Amasra Castle, circled the small bay to show support for the protest. The length of the human chain near the castle reached four kilometers. Gendarmes and traffic police took security measures in the town during the demonstration.
Also, on Thursday, more than 300 stores in the town didn’t open for the day, in protest of the thermal plant.
Protests against local projects that disregard the environment have been more common in Turkey since the Gezi protests of last year. In another ongoing protest, a group of residents in Amasya, also a northern province, are standing guard at a park to stop it from being razed to make way for a gas station.
Environmentalists say Turkey has relaxed environmental standards to promote investment and businesses in the country’s forests, rivers and even in national parks.
Turkey has seen a decade of uninterrupted growth under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), but critics say most of the gains are based on the construction industry, which has caused many green spaces in cities as well as some rural areas to disappear.
(Cihan/Today’s Zaman)
