Yatağan Turgut Village Environmental Rights Abuses Report, published in 2018, was a collective effort of Ecology Collective Association [TUR. Ekoloji Kolektifi], following a field mission to Turgut Village (Yatağan-Turkey), located in Turkey’s south-western Muğla.
Open-pit coal mines feeding Yatağan Coal-based Power Plant cause distress in the region for decades, and the latest to-be-victim of the expansion of the mines is Turgut, if the expansion remains unopposed. In 2018, members of the Ekoloji Kolektifi visited the village and the surrounding pits, documented the grievances, and the potential hazards upon the environment and the local society, if the open-pit coal mines yet to grow towards Turgut’s olive fields, and the residential areas.
The report contains visual evidences, and the first-hand accounts of the environmental rights abuses, besides judicial interpretations by attorneys volunteering for Ekoloji Kolektifi.
In this collective effort, my responsibilities were documenting the facts, relevant research, and visualizations, which correspond to pp. 9-50 of the report.
Photographs printed in the report also provided by me and fellow journalist, Can San.
Please visit Ekoloji Kolektifi website to read the full report.