İkizköy Villagers Await Victory in Public Participation Case for Akbelen Forest

The villagers' struggle against the urgent expropriation process for approximately 200 parcels around Akbelen Forest in İkizköy District of Muğla's Milas district continues.

While the case regarding the urgent expropriation was being heard in the 6th Chamber of the Council of State on September 16, the Prosecutor of the Council of State stated that there was "public interest" in the expropriation decision and requested the rejection of the annulment cases filed by the villagers.

The people of İkizköy, who continued their vigil around Akbelen Forest after the case, came together again today in the evening.

"WE WILL WIN THE CASE EARLY OR LATER"

Making a statement at the vigil area, İkizköy Mukhtar Nejla Işık said:

"Currently, we are on guard duty in İkizköy, on our ancestral lands, on our lands to which we are devoted wholeheartedly. I don't know how many guards this will be. We have been fighting for our land, our olives, our forest, our nature for years, we have been on guard duty. We have filed dozens of lawsuits, and most importantly, the hearing of our case that will determine our fate was held last week. All the villagers there shouted this. The public interest here is this village, the lands in this village, the streams flowing on it, our well in it, our olives. We said, "With this right of ours, we will win this case sooner or later. The Council of State judges stated in their decision to suspend the execution that we are the real owners of these lands."

"WE WILL NEVER GET OUT OF HERE"

We didn't come here from somewhere. The graves of our ancestors are also here. The olive trees on which our ancestors worked are also here. Our house, bark, animal, everything we made with our hands is here. We say this loud and clear. No one can displace us, the poor, the villagers, for the sake of a company's profit or just because a company will become richer. We will continue to fight with this property right until the end. We were born in this land, we will die in this land and we will never leave here. From here we shout to the public again. We will win this case sooner or later. Until that day, continue to be the voice of İkizköy and Akbelen. Keep your eyes and ears here. This fight is not over in this case and will not end until we say it is over.