"I didn't even realize how strong I was"
Women hugging the trees they grew up with, barriers erected by gendarmerie shields, clouds of gas rising into the sky through the black pine branches... People in tears of pain and anger, unable to believe how all this could have happened, and then those who wanted to be driven from their own land with the water of TOMAs (anti-riot water cannon vehicles)… The neoliberal capitalism of the 2000s, by combining the force of the state with the violence of capital, which wanted to turn another piece of the earth into a commodity has led to such moments in various places of the world. This mentality, which prioritizes human beings but only profit seeking human beings, over nature with all its creatures, found itself confronted by movements that were first shaped by the inhabitants of that piece of nature and then developed with those who supported this rebellion.
The popular movement we refer to as the Akbelen Resistance has a five-year history. In 2017, İkizköy in Milas/Muğla, along with a large area in its vicinity, was somewhat sacrificed; the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry allocated the Akbelen Forest to Yeniköy Kemerköy Enerji (YK Enerji), a company affiliated with Limak Holding, to provide coal for the Yeniköy and Kemerköy thermal power plants. Over time, the mining area expanded further, and first Işıkdere was evacuated through a confiscation process that is said to have been highly tortuous. The rent-seeking wanted to diversify the mines and to acquire more for this purpose. While Işıkdere was completely transformed into a production area, permission was issued for felling in Akbelen Forest without even waiting for the lawsuit filed by the villagers to be concluded. The watch, which started in 2019 to prevent trees from being cut down, grew and last year, although the cutting in one area could not be prevented, the magnificent resistance continued. The legal struggle of the people of İkizköy continues, but we also have global experience of how the law works in such cases.
44-year-old Nejla Işık was one of those women who stood guard without caring about gas, water and batons. She witnessed the transformation of this geography, which she was born in and which she doted on, into a "hellhole", and she cut olive trees with her hands, crying, so that they would not be buried under the ground. She has always been at the forefront of the resistance, together with the older generation of her family in their 80s and her two children in their 20s. In the March 31 local elections, Işık was elected as the mukhtar of İkizköy and a new phase of her life began. Apart from its significance for the Akbelen Resistance, this new phase also contains the story of a woman transformed around the environmental movement.
“There is no such thing as me, there is us”
Nejla Işık's days are filled with great hustle and bustle. On the one hand, there is a rush brought by the mukhtar's office, and on the other hand, efforts are underway to stop the mine. She makes time to talk about the resistance and the ongoing watch at various events, so as not to create the image that "the forest has been cut down and everything is over". Despite the gendarmerie waiting at the gates of their houses for three months, despite the whirring trucks covering their days with dust, despite all kinds of deterrents to get them to leave, their energy is high and being mukhtar has also been good for them. Because now there are people who know their rights against the company and the state.
"The responsibility of being a mukhtar is different. You work separately for the village, separately for serving the people, separately for Akbelen. All of them are a whole, but I used to be Nejla protecting her land against the mine and the power plant, now I also have to think about serving as well." Because now, anyone who wants a road in front of their house, who wants to repair broken street lighting, or who needs support while looking for a job seek to her. She can delegate some tasks to a member of her staff, but she says that she wants to take care personally and that she especially likes to work for service. “It is very valuable to gain people's trust and to be loved and cherished,” she says happily.
Getting elected was not easy either. They started out as three candidates, but the company worked hard to influence the election, and they tried to get their own candidate elected. The support of the former mukhtar, himself a power plant employee, was also added here:
"There was a lot of pressure on the workers at the mine, saying if you elect her, she will close this place down, this will happen, that will happen. I wanted to nominate someone working in the company as a councilor and as soon as they found out, they put pressure on this person and told them to remove his name. I had to change the papers I had printed before the election and have them printed again. there's money involved, there's threats involved. They said that if this woman is elected, she will let you down, or a woman can’t be a mukhtar."
She did not face any personal threats, but the election process was characterized by attempts to defame her and manipulate the voters. Promises of jobs were circulated, and even the urgent expropriation decision issued at the time was used as a promise to pay more for some people's fields than the state. At one point, she put their candidacy aside and, with the support of volunteer lawyers, visited the villages that would be affected by the expropriation decision and tried to inform the people about the issue. “My concern is not being a muhktar, it is the survival of these villages, that is why I set out on this path. There is no such thing as me, there is us. "I tried to explain that we can succeed all together," says Işık. The five-year resistance has become a spontaneous reference about who cares money first, for who cares land first.
Even though its area of influence is not very wide, it is of great importance to be a part of the local government in Anatolia, especially in such critical regions. She explains based on his own experience:
"Mukhtars are seen as the lowest layer in local government. But in struggles for a humane life like ours, the local should have the say from the bottom to the top. Some may think that mukhtars have no authority, but in the village, the mukhtar is seen as representing the state. The step he/she takes, the word he/she says very important in the village. For example, the former mukhtar used to say 'You can't do anything to the power plant, it has to work, there is work here, there is food here', he used to instill this. It is important to know and understand people's grievances and to be able to speak on their behalf. For example, there are those resisting against the cement factory in Muğla, and you know I visit every resistance area, wherever I go, I see that such businesses have bought the mukhtars first."
Transforming women, transforming people
They are also dealing with water cuts as a deterrent policy. Some time after the election, water did not flow regularly for almost three weeks. They think this is a method. Before Işıkdere was evacuated in 2017, people were first tried to be left helpless by cutting off their water supply. In 2019, when they walked to Ankara, the Parliament and returned to their villages, they found their water supply cut off.
As mukhtar, she applied to the municipality, but the burst could not be found. It was only after they said they would take action that "the pump failure at the company's reservoir" was resolved, Işık says. Knowing that the pre-election rhetoric of "A woman can't be a mukhtar, if your water breaks tomorrow, will she be able to get it fixed?" was a hoax, she thinks this is a message to her and those who elected her.
Would Nejla Işık like to be an member of parliament one day? She laughs sincerely at this question, and many people have encouraged her. It has been said with appreciation that she draws the profile of a deputy who "neither covets the money of companies nor fears the state". "I didn't even think of being a mukhtar, and I don't think of being an MP either. As soon as I move away from here, I move away from the struggle," he says for now.
On the other hand, this environmental resistance brought out a Nejla she never knew:
"When I look at my previous life, I now say that I lived in vain. I was an ordinary housewife, unaware of the world. It was very different to realize your power. Even I didn't realize that I was so resilient, so strong."
This is actually a summary of the transformation experienced by all women in the region in different doses. This evolution towards equality, which is reflected in the houses, fields and streets, exposes the link between the violence of the state and capital and male domination.
“I saw my own power, and so did the people. At first, people were telling everyone who came here to ‘save us’. Now, they are in the mood that they can't do this if we don't want it, if we unite we can overcome it,” says Nejla Işık. That's why they already won, they will win.
