Council of State’s

Turkey’s Council of State has dismissed the Cabinet’s rapid expropriation decision in the Yırca village of the Manisa province, marking a crucial ruling for the locals who lost thousands of olive trees over a coal power plant project.

Villagers in a small Aegean town who resisted but could not stop the cutting down of around 6,000 olive trees by an energy company for a coal plant construction are celebrating the Council of State’s decision halting construction in the area.

Kolin İnşaat, the energy firm that felled around 5,000 olive trees in the Aegean village of Yırca last week for the construction of a planned coal power plant, was aware of a Council of State decision halting the project two days before its announcement, a deputy from Turkey’s main opposition has claimed.