A 64-year-old woman in Turkey is fighting for the environment
Taibe Demirella an 84-year-old woman in Turkey is fighting for the environment
She was to go to the village of Turgut with olive orchard saplings and planted its in her own six hectares of land near the town of Taibe Demirela. With great courage, Demirella has so far saved everything from the coal mine Yatagan Power Station. The barren land that was already on the side of the olive grove under the influence of coal mining once had many plants.
The Erdogan government wants to reduce electricity imports. Because the government data says that five percent of the total import expenditure goes to the power sector and only five percent of the total electricity demand of the country is met which is very less and more expensive than the demand.
The current Turkish government is leaning towards coal power as the only way to reduce the import-demand dependence of the power sector.
Deniz Gumzel, a climate activist, wrote a report on behalf of the European non-profit organization Health and Environment Alliance (HEL, or HIL). According to the report, at least 45,000 people have died in the last 40 years due to pollution in the region.
“Protecting forests and the ecosystem has become a war for the locals,” said activist Deniz Gumzel. The Yatagan power station has wiped out 5,000 hectares of land in five villages in the Mughal state. To protect her six hectares of land, including the olive grove, Taibei Demirel sought refuge in court.
The smoke from the huge chimneys of the three big power plants next to the door would destroy her own village – fearing that she could not stop the expansion of the coal mine despite opposing the expansion of the power plant.
She was forced to file a case. After studying she found a verdict in an old case, which clearly states that coal mining cannot be done in the olive groves. Which helped her to win her own case by showing that verdict
Although Demirella won the case, her fears did not abate. She has managed to save her six hectares of land, but how will she stop the digging that will start for coal extraction? Can she stop it? So, this combative woman asks everyone, “Why are we pushing our environment towards destruction? Is there nothing else to be done?”
