September 2008

It has been a month since Ecotopia ended and things are finally starting to settle down and get back to 'normal' in the office. With this slightly delayed September newsletter, we thought it would be a good idea to give a bit of an update on exactly what went down in Turkey. After quick press releases about evictions and arrests, the Ecotopia newswire went a bit silent. This newsletter will fill in those blanks and also talk about what's next for EYFA and Ecotopia.

1. Introduction to Ecotopia Turkey, 2008
2. Vigil and Arrests
3. Eviction
4. Die-in and More Arrests
5. Press Heyday
6. Follow-up Action
7. The Future of Ecotopia

Ecotopia Turkey was scheduled from August 9-23, close to the city of Sinop on the Black Sea. This year the program focused on the issue of nuclear power, as Sinop is one of the locations in Turkey being considered to host a 'Nuclear Technology Centre.' Local activists in Sinop have been opposing these plans for years, but resistance to the proposed plans had been decreasing. It seemed that many people in the area had resigned themselves to the plants being built and believed the government when it said many jobs would be created if only the nuclear plant went ahead.

The camp started slowly, with only a few workshops taking place and lots of last minute work getting done. However, regular visits from the forestry commission and jandarma (military police) soon became a regular part of camp life. Hardly a day passed without our uniformed friends stopping by to ask for more lists of participants or to demand that an anti-nuclear banner be taken down (from inside the kitchen!).

Ecotopia life had developed into a steady rhythm when a number of participants joined together with SINYAD, a local anti-nuclear group, to start a vigil outside the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency in Sinop. Turkish law states that press conferences must take place in designated areas and must also have prior permission from the authorities, so the activists decided on a silent vigil that would not be against any law but would still allow them to exercise their democratic right to freedom of speech.

The first group of five people, including two foreigners and two local Sinop activists, lasted only ten minutes. As they held a banner and distributed leaflets outside the agency, the demonstrators were approached by plainclothes police and forcefully removed without warning. About half an hour later another group of five people started a second vigil. They were also removed after about ten minutes.

Both groups were taken to a local police station where they were fined 125 Turkish lira for “not obeying orders,” article 42 in Turkish law. But article 42 talks about “hanging a banner on a place where you cannot; state governmental buildings, private places, company buildings, etc.” Neither of these things fits with what happened, as demonstrators were given no orders, nor did they hang their banner off of any building. They were also informed they had not been arrested and were not in custody, thus meaning they could not see a lawyer because they were “not at that stage yet.”

Having learned from our mistake, on the afternoon of August 22nd a representative of Ecotopia went to the jandarma to inform them about plans for a demonstration the next day. They were told that the demonstration would not be allowed. Shortly afterwards the same organiser received a phonecall saying that permission to hold the camp was revoked. We would be required to leave the site by 6pm that evening – only a few hours away.

After refusing to accept the eviction on the grounds that insufficient notice had be given, the deadline for leaving camp was extended until the next morning. At this point, a media team got to work informing local, national and international press about the situation, while those of us at camp started planning what to do next...

We decided to peacefully resist any attempt to remove us from the site before we finished the camp and cleaned up after ourselves. We also decided that we wouldn't let a little police intimidation get in the way of our protest plans. As uniformed and plainclothes jandarma officers began arriving on site Saturday morning, we continued with meetings and preparations.

By early afternoon many people were packed up and began travelling to Sinop. Police presence in the city was heavy, with several people from the camp being stopped and questioned on the street, and more of us stopped and questioned upon leaving the campsite.

Just before 6pm people began to gather outside the office of Sinop's (pro-nuclear) governor. After about five minutes of staging a peaceful 'die-in,' police arrived in a bus and physically removed protestors without warning. This included several people who had not participated in the action but were seen nearby, as well as the group's media contact person and several people doing legal support. In all, thirty foreigners from twenty countries and three people from Turkey were hauled away by police to a nearby police station.

Whilst the demonstrators were held at the police station, requests for lawyers, translation and phonecalls to embassies were repeatedly ignored. Again, police said we were not under arrest and not in custody, which meant that they could ignore requests to speak to a lawyer. The lawyer came to the station and was not let in, and police told him that the people inside did not want to see him. When police realised the people in the station were communicating with the outside, they took away their mobile phones.

Some groups were told they could only have food and water if they paid for it themselves. After several hours small groups started to be transported to the hospital, apparently to document that no one had been mistreated by police. By 2am everyone was released and again informed that we had never been officially arrested.

As we gathered together back at the SINYAD office we soon found ourselves surrounded by more police. Seemingly worried about further demonstrations, the police tried to convince us to take a bus back to the campsite (the same site they evicted us from the day earlier!). When we refused, they blocked us in the narrow street, pushing back at least one person who tried to leave the area. Eventually they let up, allowing some people to leave and sleep in a union office nearby.

By the next morning it was clear that word had gotten out about our actions. Articles appeared in a number of Turkish newspapers, several television channels covered the story and press releases were posted on Indymedia sites internationally. As we continued negotiations with police, who were desperate for us to leave town, calls for interviews started to come in.

In the next days press interest in the story stayed high. This was in no small part due to the Turkish Prime Minister, Erdoğan, commenting on our actions. Claiming that he and his party were the real, best environmentalists, he critiqued those arrested for being no more than “idle environmentalists.” Claudia Roth, a prominent Green Party member in Germany, also commented on the actions, further helping the media buzz. The action was the lead story on several news stations, the front page of newspapers, and full page interviews too.

Activists from Turkey were particularly surprised when media outlets owned by a company bidding for the nuclear tender started running the story. The freedom of speech/freedom of assembly issue, highlighted by the arrests of so many Europeans, made the story impossible for them to ignore – especially with Turkish entry into the EU being high on the media agenda. The media team worked hard to try and bring questions and interviews back to the nuclear issue, instead of just talking about how many toilet breaks we received or how we would have been treated in our own countries.

On August 26th EYFA and SINYAD held a joint press conference at the Greenpeace Mediterranean office in Istanbul. Sitting in front of a banner reading “Nuclear Free Turkey Nuclear Free World,” group representatives read a statement and answered questions from the many reporters in attendance. Here are a couple of good quotes from the press conference that featured in an english language Turkish daily:

“If it seems like we have nothing else to do it only shows our commitment to the cause and that we are giving up our free time for it.” (In response to Erdoğan's criticisms.)

“Nuclear energy is not a green solution, not a carbon safe solution, and it will not make Turkey energy secure...Turkey should instead invest in alternative energy.”

Articles in newspapers the next morning made it the fifth straight day of mainstream media coverage of the story. The action had exploded into something none of us could have expected when it was hastily planned!

Since the camp, the momentum in Turkey has continued. With results of the tender for a facility in Mersin to be released on the 24th of September, many groups have continued to make their voices heard. Here is a short list of actions and events that have taken place since the end of August:

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** Nine people fined for their participation in the vigil/banner action are appealing. Work is also being started to bring a case against the police for their improper conduct during the first and second arrest. Please get in touch if you involved and have not yet documented your experiences during the action and arrest.

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** Barisapeadal (Pedalling for Peace), a national environmentalist cycling group expressed their thanks for our actions at a meeting in Istanbul shortly after the camp. On August 31st they organised another action with many other groups including the Farmers Union Confederation, Ecological Utopias Association, the Social Democracy Foundation and Street Children Association. From their press release:

“After the Prime Minister attacked environmentalists in his declarations on the news saying that he is the best environmentalist in Turkey and the other environmentalists are fooling around and doing nothing, a group of environmentalists replied. They put a red carpet on the ground with a chair to symbolise the authority and power of the Prime Minister. During the press conference they said that they invited the Prime Minister by email and fax to this demonstration to talk about the environmental issues of Turkey but he didn't come nor did he reply to the invitation.”

From one of their banners:

“Nuclear is safe, the earth is flat, Tayyip [the Prime Minister] is an environmentalist, and donkeys can fly.” http://www.barisapedal.org/

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** The Green Party held an action on Istiklal Street on the 7th of September, displaying banners that read “Nuclear Free Turkey, Nuclear Free World.” This was part of an ongoing campaign leading up to the tender deadline of September 24th.

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** Barispedal and KEG (Global Action Group) held an action on September 17th. This action was in front of Enka Construction & Industry Co. Inc., which was supposed to bid on the tender. They put windmills in front of the building and banners read “Wind and Sun is Enough For Us” and “No Nuclear, Yes Alternative Energy.”

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** On September 23rd Greenpeace and other environmental groups did a die-in action in front of the Ministry of Energy in Ankara. Simultaneously, climbers reached the top of a crane in front of the building and dropped a banner staying 'STOP' to support the protest happening below. Police arrested all 37 activists involved. http://www.greenpeace.org/mediterranean/news/stopping-nukes-in-turkey

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** On September 24th another action took place in front of the Ministry of Energy in Ankara. NKP (Platform Against Nuclear) stood out front with gas masks and anti-nuclear slogans, protesting the nuclear tender. During the announcement of the tender they were engaged in a sit-in action. When they got news that only 6 out of 13 interested companies filed for the tender, and only one submitted a proposal, they celebrated the news in front of the ministry with live music and dance.

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This most recent news from Turkey gives new hope that Turkey will remain nuclear free. On Monday September 22nd, requests from companies to postpone the tender due to the recent economic crisis were rejected by Erdoğan. This is the fourth tender held for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, after the failure of the first three tenders.

After 20 years of organising Ecotopia, EYFA has decided it's time to try something a bit different. Whilst we plan to continue organising a camp on environmental issues each summer, the name Ecotopia will be retired. Instead, the name of the camp will change each year, stemming from ideas and collaborations between EYFA and local organisers.

Plans for a camp in 2009 are still being formulated. All ideas and offers of collaboration are very welcome, so please get in touch if you would like to be involved. EYFA is particularly interested in working in countries where there is a lack of activist infrastructure, thus giving a boost to the local activist community and local environmental issues. We would also like the camp to work as a hub for networking, especially in building links between eastern and western European activists. As always, the camp should be DIY, horizontally run, self-managed event.

To find out more or to get involved in the organising process, email shannon@eyfa.org