Gendarmerie retreat as contentious road project halts in Turkey’s Rize

RİZE

DHA photo

Turkish gendarmerie forces have retreated from a road construction area in the Black Sea province of Rize after locals organized a sit-in to hinder the controversial project.

Gendarmerie forces on July 11 forcibly took away several local people, dragging them on the ground, as they stood before caterpillars in the Samistal pasture of Rize’s Çamlıhemşin district to prevent the construction of “The Green Road,” an inland road project.

An environmental activist group called Fırtına Initiative held a march in protest of the construction of “The Green Road” on Istanbul’s central İstiklal Avenue on July 12, as the controversy turned into a nationwide subject of interest.

On July 13, Turkish media reported that the Rize Governor’s Office ordered the suspension of the construction. As a result, bulldozers stopped and gendarmerie forces retreated from the area where protesters erected tents overnight.