Turkish Villagers Tell COP31 Leaders to Leave Antalya and Face the Coal Devastation

World leaders are gathering in Antalya for COP31, but Nejla Isik wants them a few hundred kilometres west, standing in her village of Ikizkoy on the edge of the Akbelen forest. The elected local official says heads of state and UN officials should skip the Mediterranean coast and see for themselves what decades of lignite extraction have done to the land and the people living on it. Her home sits just a few hundred metres behind a mine that has crept closer with every year of expansion.

The timing is pointed. Talks opened Monday and run until November 20, with the shift to cleaner energy high on the agenda. Turkey, the host, is pushing a voluntary goal to ramp up electrification — but as campaigners point out, that only cuts planet-warming emissions if the power behind it is low-carbon. Last year coal was Turkey's biggest electricity source, generating 34% of the country's power and making it Europe's largest coal-fired generator, according to energy think tank Ember. The Akbelen-area mines feed plants producing just over 2% of Turkey's electricity, per the operator's website.

The coal comes from mines supplying the nearby Yenikoy and Kemerkoy power plants, run by Yenikoy-Kemerkoy Energy, a joint venture involving Limak and IC Ictas. Limak declined to comment; IC Ictas did not respond to a request for comment. Villagers and campaigners say the mining has destroyed forest and threatens olive groves, farmland and entire communities.

Protesting has come at a cost. Nejla Isik's 26-year-old daughter Esra spent 42 days in pretrial detention after demonstrating against a planned land expropriation, and a court in July handed her a two-year sentence for resisting public officials. She is free while an appeal plays out. In a statement, Esra Isik said the punishment was aimed not just at her but at everyone in Turkey who stands up for their rights, land and village. Her mother put it plainly: for 40 years, she said, they have lived with coal breathing down their necks.

Human Rights Watch said in an October report that Turkish authorities had arbitrarily arrested and prosecuted environmental protesters in Akbelen and elsewhere, and that demonstrators, lawyers and journalists faced charges including illegal assembly and spreading false information. Deniz Bayram, an assistant researcher at the group, said Turkey's environmental crackdown as it hosts the UN summit is a stark reminder of its intolerance of dissent. The government says police step in only when demonstrations are unlawful or threaten public order; the interior and justice ministries did not comment.

The standoff around Akbelen sharpened in 2023 when tree-felling resumed. Villagers say security forces hit demonstrators with water cannon and pepper spray, with fines and prosecutions following. Hasan Yorulmaz, another resident, recalled marching to stop pine trees being cut down before soldiers blocked the way and sprayed women, men, young and old alike. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told foreign media on Thursday that Turkey is working toward a just transition but that it is hard because the mines employ thousands, and he argued nuclear power is the most viable alternative — with Ankara targeting 10 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2040, roughly matching today's coal-fired output.