Handan Tufan / JINHA

IZMIR – In the village of Gökçealan, women are leading the resistance against a planned quarry that would devastate the local ecosystem.

Izmir province has previously seen actions against quarries from the villagers of Kemalpaşa Akalan. Now, the villagers of Gökçealan are resisting a quarry planned on that will destroy the Bağbozuğu natural area and also wipe out the mountainside area where villagers grow a local variety of grape not found anywhere else.

Village woman Gülizar Uz explained the layout of the village.

"It's vineyards in the plains, olives and grapes in the mountains. This is a special grape; it doesn't grow everywhere," said Gülizar. "If they open a quarry, just to get some stone, they'll ruin the balance of nature and effect the crops we raise here, too."

The governorate ruled that no environmental assessment report is required for the project, to which villagers have responded by carrying the issue to court.Gülizar recalled the surprise she felt when she heard about the quarry plans: "One day we woke up and the mountain was sold."

But she says that whatever the court's decision regarding the environmental assessment report, the villagers are ready to continue their struggle.

"All our income comes from olives and grapes," said Can Sezer, a village woman who has been resisting the quarry for the past year. "We don't want a quarry right outside our door. We'll go to war for our forest. We'll sleep here day and night.

"No one has the right to harm our nature. We're struggling for our children's future, for our nature not to be destroyed. For years, we villagers have protected the forest. Now our forest is being sacrificed for some stones."

The World March of Women recently passed through the village in its tour of Izmir to support the villagers and share experiences about their struggle. The village women leading the struggle say there is no choice for them but resistance.

"Our grapes, our figs, our olives aren't going anywhere. That's just not an option," said Aliye Özgür.

(dk/fk/cm)