First stay of execution for controversial ‘Green Road’

As the resistance against the Green Road Project continues, the Rize Administrative Court has issued a stay of execution ruling for the Avusor-Haczane section of the road.

The controversial 2,600-kilometer Green Road Project plans to connect the highlands of 8 provinces in the Black Sea Region, and has been met with strong resistance from local people, environmental groups and rights’ defenders.

The case filed by Fırtına İnisiyatifi, the ‘Storm Initiative’, a local resistance collective, exposed the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s destruction of extensive forestland on the Avusor highlands. The Rize Administrative Court ruled for a stay of execution, and Fırtına İnisiyatifi has notified the Çamlıhemşin District Governorate.

The case filed against the Samistal and Yukarı Kavrun Highlands sections of the project continues.

The government chose to design the Green Road Project in separate stages so that it can be implemented with neither a development plan nor an environmental impact assessment [ÇED] report.