In Ardahan province in northwestern Turkey, the gendarmerie has expelled residents from Serinchayir village for organising against forest clearing. Members of the village association against the felling of the surrounding forests in Serinchayir and members of the regional association who had travelled to the village were blocked and threatened by the gendarmerie in the run-up to a planned meeting.
Those who arrived were chased all the way to the village, and troops had been on 24-hour guard in the village for three days. A member of the village association said about the commander of the troops: "He threatened that if you don't leave, I will destroy you. Everywhere we went, the gendarmerie followed us." Finally, some participants in the planned meeting were forced to leave the village.
In Turkey, foreclosures against poor peasants are brewing up in droves. In Samsun province, the Bafra Agricultural Credit Cooperative sued a 67-year-old peasant woman for not paying off her debts and not providing land lease returns. Only now, one year after the decision, she has been informed of the court's decision to imprison her - cynically on "International Day of Rural Women". Then, from 1st of November, the wave of foreclosures against many peasants rolls out. The day before, the debts to agricultural credit cooperatives have to be paid off. This kind of squeezing out of the peasants is a purpose of the "restructuring law" that the state passed last year.
